The Mess She Made
by miraimisu
Summary: The moments and places she stepped in weren't always the best ones. And, most certainly, the situations she got herself into aren't usually pleasant ones. Because she's hopeless and everyone but her knows that. [Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar.] [Ivan/Anita]
1. Outbroken

**Hello there! I'll be developing this little idea I've had on my head for a while now. I'm not hoping for reviews or anything. Just take a look if you want and bear with my rusty English writing skills. But hey, I more or less know how to write!**

 **Anyway, enjoy. I'll try to update this as soon as possible, so see ya!**

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In all honesty, Anita had never been a big fan of parties.

In fact, back to her childhood, she used to be quite the loner of her school. Her life now was pretty different from what it is now. The past-lonely and sour girl had turned into a reversed version of herself.

And, sometimes, she never knew whether it was a good thing to be so open and naive or she was better off in her farm, alone in the outskirts of the town. Zephyr Town was a peaceful place, full and nature and blossoming beauty. Maybe that was the charm of the city itself. Or, could it be its people?

She'd never know. But, back to our business, she was never a big fan of crowds. Even less now, considering that New Year's Eve had just been celebrated and she had barely got past villagers requesting her attention. Anita wouldn't have minded that all if it was any other day, not now that it was past-midnight. She was tired, sore, and needed her bed right about now.

Riiiiight now.

That big slope in her way home was one hell of a nuisance. So, when finally she got over it, the farmer felt accomplished. She could have climbed her way up the hill, but it didn't look like such a good idea due to her sore state. All she wanted, needed and desired was a season of hibernation. Maybe half of a season so her animals wouldn't miss her too much. Before she knew it, Anita had successfully limped through her harvests and through the door with a big unconscious yawn.

When she was already in bed and ready for a good dose of slumber, her little white kitten Nellie approached her, meowing all the way to her bed. Anita, snuggled in thousands of blankets and mid-way to peaceful dreams, a sudden thought startled her.

Anita had left her purse by the fountain, in the middle of the square. She trusted the villagers not to steal anything from it, but she didn't trust herself enough to remember to ask about it. In fact, Anita would have surely forgotten about that if she had drifted off into slumber. How convenient to remember that while running down the path of her house with her eyes tired and desiring to close.

But she kept them open. Struggling to do so, but she managed to get to the waterfall area without tripping or falling asleep. That was an achievement for her considering how hard it was for her to get up every morning. But she was a farmer, those were the perks of the job.

Such a nice job, anyway.

As Anita got to the other area, she was already feeling more drowsy than she had in her way home. The girl rubbed her eyes for energy and walked a few steps before tripping with a branch and landing face-first on the ground.

 _"Why, hello. Fancy meeting you now. patch of grass."_

Anita truly pondered the idea of trying to snuggle with the soil, but the blonde knew it was quite stupid. What would someone say if they found her there? Oh my God, what could happen to her if she stayed there for the night?

With a shudder, she managed to look up supporting her almost limp body with her arms. A moment later or so, a blinding light spread throughout the area and shone all the way into her brain, dazzling her for a few seconds until she snapped out of her blinding daze. She blinked twice, rubbed her eyes for the thousandth time and got up as if a lighting had striked her.

 _"What the...?"_ Anita smothered her clothes with haste and now, almost wide awake, ran down the slope. Once she was in the path to town and near the bridge, she heard the villagers' cheers and laughs even being quite far away from them. Was this what Lloyd had to go through? Dealing with the noise and the unbearing chattering of citizens. Wow, that guy had some patience.

Anyway, Anita couldn't find anything out of order after that startling light. If Lloyd was home, could he have seen that? She wasn't going to barge into his house and ask him when he was most possibly asleep (something she SHOULD BE after all). The farmer took a few looks around just to make sure everything was okay and nothing was out of place. After a heavy sigh and a feeling tired again, all excitement for a mystery already gone dry, she started her way up the hill.

Unless..

 _"Hold on..."_ Anita stepped back and glanced at the waterfall, which remained strangely quiet and steady. It was rare to see that on a regular basis, so she decided to look around so she didn't miss anything. The farmer climbed to the platform behind the stream of cascading water. She actually almost lost her precious hat in the process, but apart from that, she was alright. Just wanting to find out what was happening in the dead of the night.

There was a hollow space on the wall filled with nothing but soaring air. It was little chilly in there due to the winter season the town was going through. Thank goodness, it'd be over the day after.

But, as Anita went inside the hole, another array of light - but this time, it was softer, much more gentle and soothing - hit her on the face. Then, a few moments later, she heard water flowing and a breeze of air passing through the place.

The thing is, she didn't know where she was.

And that was scaring the life out of her.

It wasn't a nice feeling. So, when she found herself in some kind of alternate world that _definitely_ wasn't natural or whatsoever, her first thought was to turn around and leave quietly. But, as she glanced around just so she could at least remember her surroundings and, maybe, tell Angelo to draw to them, Anita was left out of breath.

It was a pretty amazing sight. A river flowed under the wooden path that led to some kind of... hold on, a sanctuary!? That was a rare sight. Also, there was a soft mist adding nothing to the scene but more drama. And Anita didn't enjoy drama when she was alone in some weird place that only held silence within. There was also some kind of weird snowflake-like mark under her feet. Hey, it was a **lovely** doormat if you asked her, and very original.

While Anita looked at the torches above the calm waters, a silent figure was approaching her, looking rather uneasy at the farmer. She cleared her throat and the blonde turned towards her, already enchanted with her facial features.

The unknown girl was a black-haired youngster, with pale skin and the bluest of eyes. Her coal hair was decorated with unique floral arrangements and her beautiful purple dress flowed on the floor. She was a unique sight herself and Anita hadn't even met her properly yet. That girl... she looked like some kind of lonely goddess.

"Oh, a visitor?" the unknown girl inquired, somehow surprised by Anita's presence. "How unusual..."

That silky voice of hers held some droopy tone the farmer didn't precisely enjoy. She had the voice of loneliness and innocence. Why was it that her tone was so expressionless yet so unnerving to Anita? Nothing was making sense.

Not that anything had made sense that night to start with.

The blonde took a deep breath so she could also find her voice and spoke up. "Uh... I'm so-"

The other didn't let her finish. "I'm Emiko." the beautiful goddess-like girl took a step towards Anita and pulled up the smallest of smiles. In fact, you'd have missed it if you had blinked. "What's your name?"

So, Emiko, huh? That was a cute name. Anita smiled, starting to feel like herself again now that everything was starting to click into place. Maybe it was the fact that the coal-haired girl had a name that it made her feel at ease.

"I'm Anita." spoke the farmer in a low boy happy voice, her usual tone, swallowing down the wish to shake hands with her. "My name is Anita." she repeated, in case Emiko hadn't heard her.

Why was she feeling so nervous? She was a social fish with everyone, why was she faltering in front of that woman?

And why _the hell_ was Emiko staring at her so much?

"I see." stated Emiko with a monotone voice, albeit it held some kind of superiority tone. It wasn't nice at all. "Interesting."

Was she mad at her for breaking into her lair? Because honestly, it hadn't been her purpose. That blinding light from some minutes ago practically _summoned_ her there. It wasn't her fault that she had been attracted to it.

Before Anita could say anything, Emiko giggled under her breath. It was quite spooky if you asked Anita. Seeing such a silent woman laughing - _giggling_ \- at somebody for introducing herself wasn't pleasing, nor was the way she looked at her as if Anita was her- _puppet_ or something, inferior to her. Again, it wasn't nice at all. And again, that woman was damn sinister.

After that little giggle, Anita tried to speak again, but only opened her mouth to close it again. Her social skills were losing potential the more time she spent dampened in that tense atmosphere.

Emiko cut the ice before Anita gathered her thoughts. "Nice to meet you, Anita."

And as if wind was pushing her, Emiko walked all the way back to her lair. And, Anita, still trying to comprehend what had just happened in there, stepped out of the hole and walked all the way home again.

She didn't get much sleep that night.

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 **So, yeah. Don't expect quality writing, not gonna happen. Also, short chapters for now.**

 **Sorry not sorry, see you soon! BTW sorry if Anita seemed quite OOC, but this is the exact reaction I got when I first met Emiko, so I'll try to give her some more depth as this shit goes on.**


	2. Outnumbered

**Hi again, LET'S GOOOO...! Again, don't need reviews, no need for anything. Read if you want to! :D**

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It was just too early for him to wake up. This was no guess, it definitely was too early for him to be awake. Dirk still sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes. With a lazy yawn and scratching the back of his neck, his eyes adverted to the calendar on his table.

It was Saturday. Nothing serious to worry about. Smiling to himself and feeling at peace, Dirk's head fell onto the pillow and he closed his eyes once again, slowly drifting off into sleep.

Until some loud rustling in the kitchen startled him and made him curse under his breath. Ivan couldn't have chosen any other hour to start cooking or doing whatever he was scheming out there. Grunting, Dirk made his way to the kitchen with a slight frown and peeked from the doorway.

Then, he remembered.

It was Saturday.

Saturday means Bazaar Day.

Which means... Anita.

"Ivan, what on the world are you-?"

"Dirk!" the pan Ivan was holding fell out from his grasp and clattered on the cookery. "Goodness! You scared me!"

The innocent younger brother apologized lowly and glanced at the mess his brother had made. Ivan wasn't the most skilled cooker in town, but it was remarkable to see how hard he was trying to make something that met Anita's superb cooking standards. That girl had good taste, a pretty expensive one too. Dirk didn't doubt Anita would like whatever Ivan made for her, even if it was a burnt dish of fish bones.

However, just seeing his all-time teacher and gentleman brother with a cooking apron dampened in something Dirk hoped was tomato sauce, made the situation much more ridiculous than it really was.

Ivan had such a Titanic-sized crush on Anita that it became hilarious at some point.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"Oh, just..." the teacher fixed his hair and looked at the mess. "I wanted to cook something for Anita so she has something to eat during the Bazaar, It must be an exhausting job."

Dirk approached Ivan with a mischievous smile and took a bite of some Sashimi Ivan hadn't included on the dish. It had a nice taste even if the dish was composed of fish. Dirk also tasted some spices on the sauce mix.

"It's good." stated the bartender. "But why bother to cook all of this? I'm sure Anita would take whatever you made for her."

The purple dressed man (who had removed his eternal companion the jacket) sighed and removed the apron. He took a seat and caressed his forehead with a drop of sweat running down his temple. Dirk could tell he was tired and had been working since early hours in the morning. It was such a sweet gesture for him to do.

"That's exactly why I can't decide on what to give her for her birthday, or whenever we cross paths, really." explained he. "Besides, she is such a nice person to me that I never know what to give her to show her how grateful I am for her gestures."

That was some deep stuff Dirk had never considered. When Ivan had started to show some interest on the new farmer, it seemed more like infatuation, just some subtle appreciation of her presence in his life. But, as days passed and they tied bonds (mainly with her jumping on his face and basically shoving mints and chamomile onto him), Ivan seemed to grow fond of the girl. It was inevitable for him to fall for her.

And Dirk knew that Anita liked Ivan as much as Ivan liked her. The only person who didn't know about this and certainly needed it the most was Ivan.

So, yeah, casualties played odd on Ivan.

The younger brother titled his head with unfelt innocence so he could meditate about the situation. In the spur of the messy train of thoughts, his eyes travelled to the silent clock on the left wall. He snapped out of his daze about how much of a shy dork Ivan was and how Anita and Ivan's babies would look like.

"Hey, man, it's already 9:50!" exclaimed Dirk. "You should get there earlier now. Y'know, with all this stuff about the Bazaar becoming more popular and all of that..."

While Dirk trailed off, Ivan put on his purple jacket and adjusted his tie. "You're right. I should start walking so I arrive there before her stand gets full of people."

Dirk got a bottle of milk (some that, by the way, Anita had provided one day) and waved at his brother leaving the house with the Sashimi on hand. When the door was closed, he started panning on which kind of tea would Antoinette like for their next date.

Not that is was a formal date or something...

* * *

When Ivan got to the Bazaar area, he realized that the word used to define a crowd had lost its meaning once he glanced at the mass of people that had practically planted themselves all around the place.

It wasn't crowded, it was some kind of mad mass composed of, basically, the whole planet. He felt outnumbered and a little bit intimidated. He and his fresh Sashimi were small compared to the number of people that passed by. Ivan would have to get used to that crowd if he wanted to go see Anita.

He suddenly didn't mind that much.

When he finally made it out of the massive crowd, disappointment drenched him to the core.

Disappointed because Anita wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Disappointed because nobody seemed to have noticed.

Disappointed because he didn't know where she was.

And it made him uneasy to know she wasn't near him, or nowhere he knew of.

Ivan swallowed his stupid worries and walked (more like _squished_ through the mass of people) towards the Mayor's stand. Felix would know what was wrong with Anita. Whether she was busy with her animals, maybe ill or-

Oh my god, what if she was ill and all Ivan was doing was cook stupid Sashimi? How could that contribute to the situation she could be in? Anita could be suffering of a high fever, burning up and still taking care of her livestock. She was recklessly hardworking and that was one of the reasons he fell (hard, very hard) for her. But it wasn't safe for her to do that, what if she fainted?

What if what if what if...?

"Hey, kid, do you need anything?"

Ivan snapped from his thoughts and found himself at a side of Felix's stand. Ivan could see how much of a wreck he looked like through the eyes of the Mayor. Even if he was alright on the outside, his brain was ticking with sudden worry.

Because an absent Anita wasn't common and he wasn't used to it.

"My apologies, Mayor." said Ivan sheepishly. "I was just wondering if you had seen Anita. I've noticed she isn't at the Bazaar." more like went straight to her stand and didn't find her there."Have you seen her?"

His question didn't really surprise the big man, knowing that Ivan was very fond of the farmer. However, it wasn't really normal to see the young and seemingly cold teacher asking about anybody or showing any signs of worry to anyone else that wasn't himself.

Anita had really done a good job with Ivan.

Felix scratched his temple with a soft understanding expression. "She isn't attending the Bazaar today, I'm afraid." answered the old man. "It's a pity, really. She always made such a difference with the profits."

"Yes, indeed."

 _"She always made a difference with the light she gave to the area and people themselves."_

With an invisible blush he hoped Felix didn't see, Ivan frowned slightly. "Do you know, by any chance, why she isn't here?"

"Here, it's yours, have a nice day!" the Mayor waved the customer goodbye as if he hadn't heard Ivan, but his mind focused on Anita again a few moments later. "Ay, yes Anita, you were asking?"

"Yes."

"Is that Sashimi you got there, kid?"

"Yes."

"It looks good."

"Thank you." Ivan sighed, losing his patience already. "Uh... about Anita...?"

"Oh, yes, sorry." responded Felix. "I get carried away easily. Anyway, Anita mentioned to me she would be visiting her cousin today."

Her cousin? She had never even talked about her family that much. It was kind of surprising to hear anything that had to do with her relatives. "Why?"

"I dunno." shrugged the Mayor. "She told me she hadn't seen her in a long time, so I guess there's no worrying reason for her to visit." he explained. "She also said something about a Konohana Town or something her cousin was moving to."

"Konohana-?"

"Lillian!" exclaimed Felix suddenly. "Yeah, that's her cousin's name, Lillian. I guess they wanted to see each other before that girl moved... or something." the tall, blonde man laughed loudly. "That's all Anita mentioned to me. She apologized for missing the Bazaar and left after a small chat."

Well, now Ivan knew where his crush was. But, again, she was far away. And God knew when she'd be coming back. Coming back to him.

"Do you know when she will be back?"

There was a gust of wind before his answer. "I' not sure. However, I bet it won't take long for her to come back. I reckon she'll be back by midnight or something - it's quite the long trip!" Felix reached out and ruffled Ivan's hair, disheveling it slightly. "Don't worry, kiddo, you two won't be apart from each other much longer. You can go home and I'll give that," he pointed to the dish Ivan held. "to her. Just in case she comes back earlier than I presumed."

Sighing, he rejected his idea politely and thanked Felix for making time for him. His kind demeanor deserved him a free slice of chocolate from the dear Mayor (he also added that it could mend his heartache for Anita) that he didn't need.

He had a difficult relationship with chocolate. He just kind of, slightly, subtly, not much really, **despised** chocolate. Let's say Ivan grew some deep annoyance towards those sweet, sugary traits during his childhood. Joan had pointed out how strange his tastes were for a man of his age. Ivan paid no mind and usually continued drinking his tea.

The teacher gave the chocolate to Cindy (who had recently joined the busy crowds of madness and blushed at the gift) and left the area with a huge disappointment hanging off his hands.

Some hours after Anita was back in town, she came home to the very fresh dish of Sashimi on her table, along with her tucked in livestock and her cat sleeping in front of her bed.

Needless to say, after she found a little note written by Ivan on top of the dish, saying they'd talk the day after and that he hoped she had a great day, Anita's heart fluttered itself to sleep with a broad smile on her face.

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 **And we haven't even gotten started with this yet. Hell yesh.**

 **No quality writing, not yet :S BTW I love Anita/Lily familiar relationship. I'm down for it.**


	3. Outdistanced

**Hey this is a long chapter! Not 5-star quality, but that's what you get, sorry.**

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The Mayor's house was on fire the moment his guests came in, ready for some good food and an excellent night. Ivan had been expecting this night with great anticipation – so had all the guests.

Everyone came in talking with each other, laughing and greeting the warmth inside. It was already spring, but the nice temperatures hadn't settled down yet. It would take while for it to change into real spring.

They would have to sit down and wait. Meanwhile, they'd have a nice dinner, chat the night away and embrace each other's company. Every villager was dressed nicely, hair styled neatly and looking super-duper pretty. Some had even brought wine and others treats – such a nice gesture of them, Sherry thought, looking at Lloyd's wine with a tender smile.

Not everyone was invited though. This dinner was held in regard of business and the town's growth. All business people of Zephyr Town and all remarkable citizens were the only ones that could take part in the meeting. This reduced the list those ones who had a stand in the Bazaar: such as Raul, Joan, Sherry, Lloyd, Anita and the Mayor himself. Isaac, Nellie, Claire and Wilbur wouldn't attend the meeting in order to look after their children, who were sick.

The only one who was allowed to attend the meeting even though he didn't take part in the Bazaar was Ivan. His role as a successful teacher was important in the town, since he also helped with Cindy and Lauren's education. He was more than eager to go and have a nice conversation with his neighbors. Dirk had pouted and stayed in, pretty annoyed with his brother's excellence.

As everyone came in and Sherry counted the people, she realized one person was missing. The lovely girl sighed, knowing who it was beforehand, and looked at the door, waiting for the missing person to enter the meeting. Everyone was starting to sit down and Anita shouldn't be late.

Not that the farmer was always late – in fact, she was rather punctual. However, this was an important ocassion, it wasn't the right day to be late! And Sherry could run out of patience ever so easily, she wouldn't wait much longer. The always adorable, lovely and perfect daughter of the mayor sat down by her father, him sitting on the end of the table, presiding the dinner.

It didn't go unnoticed for her how Ivan reserved a seat for Anita so she could sit between him and the Mayor. Such a lovely from him to do that – such a sweet, sweet boy he was.

Sherry wondered how had Ivan and Anita grown so close in the span of a year. It was true the girl was just charming, cute and a brilliant, intelligent bussinesswoman, but Ivan was quite the closed-off person of the town. Him and Lloyd were awfully hard to get close to. It had taken Sherry a while to get Lloyd to open up to her, so how had Anita done such a miracle with the teacher? Anita must be the fairest of them all, huh?

Seeing said girl wasn't coming anytime soon, the Mayor sighed and got up with a glass of red wine on hand:

"Now, shall we, fellow citizens-"

There was a frantic sound of footsteps outside and ruckus at the door. Moments later, the farmer emerged and closed the door with sharp breaths. Farmer who, mind you, looked like a mess. Imagine her: her bright pink shirt with splattered dirt, some grass and slightly wrinkled. Her pants were dirty as well, just like her shoes. Her hat had been left at home.

"Sorry! I'm – _damn_ – just so sorry!"

Sherry got up with a loud gasp and approached her friend with a concerned frown. "Anita, look at youself! You're a mess!"

"Huh?" innocently, the blonde looked down and seemed to realize how dirty her clothes were. She blushed with a pink hue. "Oh."

"Oh?"

Anita gritted her teeth and noticed how everyone, sitting there like freshly cut roses, was looking at her with a mixture of a stiffled laugh and some concern. Ivan and Felix seemed mostly surprised. "You see, I had some trouble with a rebel chicken – she wouldn't obey and get into the barn. She'd just flap her wings all the time!"

"Why didn't you just change into other clothes?" inquired Lloyd with an uncharacteristic laugh that was fighting to get out.

Anita sighed. "The thing is, I _did_ change. I noticed she had gone out when I was heading here and had no other choice but deal with her now. Otherwise she'd fall asleep outside and it's a pain on the back to wake them up at nightime."

Sherry took her arm with a soft, understanding glare that Anita didn't really read much into. She was just too busy thinking about how much of a fool she must have looked for Ivan. He was just holding his laugh in so he wouldn't lose his polite composture. But my god, didn't she look funny.

"Come with me." the redhead lead her upstairs. "I'll lend you something you can change into."

Once both girls were gone, Ivan, Lloyd and the Mayor started laughing under their breath in a low release of laughter. Joan followed the pair upstairs short after to help them out. Raul just wondered why Marian hadn't come over and glanced out the windows, distracted.

The town seemed very quiet compared to the happy atmosphere of the mansion and Lloyd couldn't help but wonder what would others think of this type of exclusive meeting. It was pretty obvious they did much more than discuss about business during meetings like this. How would people like Freya or Ethel feel about this? Did they mind?

He knew they didn't theorically belong there, but would they feel left out somehow? He had never thought about this before meeting Sherry. She had done some witchery to him, for he had never imagined thinking about others with such ease. It was an almost unconscious thing to do now.

Minutes after the scandal and some seconds after the Mayor's laughter died down – which had lasted a _long_ while and Ivan had to tell him to calm down with a sheepish smile – the girls stepped downstairs with a halo of sweetness and smiles on their faces. Nobody paid attention to Anita's new dress – excepting Lloyd and Ivan.

She looked rather radiant. It was a unique view to see the farmer out of her working outfit, and even if Anita was pretty wearing those worn out clothes, – to Ivan, she was always gorgeus. That's love for you – her in a formal dress was a more than pleasing sight.

It was just a freaking dress. A baby pink, cocktail fluffy fress without sparkles, nice arrangements or something to take out from it. Anita, however, made it shine. It reached her knees in a plain expansion of tulle that made her look like a ballerina of some sort. It was, maybe, the way her lillac eyes shone with the contrast. It could also be the way her blonde hair reached her back and was left out breathing, without the hat.

It was the fact that she looked different. And it was a very nice change.

The girl, aware of the boys' glance on her, strode to her chair with a tight smile and sat down by Ivan, who hadn't stopped looking at her ever since she appeared again. Much to Sherry's liking, Lloyd had stopped looking at Anita and complimented the redhead on her radiance. She giggled in response.

From the corner of her eye, she could see how both Anita and Ivan looked at each other with nervous smiles, like they were about to get married. It was annoying to see her so obviously in love with him without him noticing, while he was just as in love with her but didn't show it was much. Ivan wasn't so heartfelt with his feelings, it wasn't easy to read him. But now... he was so easy to read.

And Sherry knew he wasn't even showing feelings with his actions, he was, supposedly, being subtle. Holy cakes, he could take out a banner with a "I LOVE YOU" and it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Ivan leant towards her ear and caressed her hand, acting instinctively. "You look lovely tonight." he whispered.

She gave a light squeeze to his hand, surprised with his sudden exhibition of tenderness, and smiled. Anita wouldn't have ever thought he'd be so caring in public places, neither would she have thought that would happen with her in the picture.

And thank goodness they were only friends, very good, very close, very in love friends. Had Dirk seen them acting so obvious towards each other, and he would have smacked his brother on the head for not making a move.

They were so obvious it was hilarious.

Ivan drew his hand out of hers – very slowly –, and took a sip of wine while the Mayor got up. Lloyd offered Anita some wine and she declined the drink with a shake of her head.

"I guess we can start now." stated Felix with a broad smile. "Thank you for coming tonight and I hope we can stick to this tradition next year, and the next one, and so on. I gladly introduce Anita to our _petite comitée_ so we can thank her for her marvelous job this year in the Bazaar."

Felix grabbed her arm and actually forced her to stand up, as if he wanted everyone to look at her. Blood was running to her cheeks as the guests rose their glasses. "We thank 'cha greatly for your help, for giving the Bazaar an excellent reputation to go by and, also, for granting us and our customers with your brilliant personality. CHEERS!"

"CHEERS!"

And everyone drank a sip of wine. Anita slumped down onto her seat and drank a bit of water. She then nodded her gratitude with a shy smile. Ivan smiled too, somehow proud of her when she had been a nervous wreck the first day.

Anita had started by selling poor dishes and some cheap gems she found. Now, with a load of experience on her back, she dedicated herself to sell excellent meals, wonderful jewells and great simple things, like her high-ranked milk, eggs and wool.

Again, she had found her way into the market and slammed her products once she settled in. She was intelligent because she found a way in. And that wasn't easy.

"I have high hopes for us to make our way to the International Bazaar! I'm sure Anita will help us achieve this goal. Now, with all our effort, we'll be there in no time!"

Something told Anita it wouldn't be as easy as that. And, judging Sherry's look, she thought just the same. Anita smiled, content with how the situation was going, and kind of embarassed for being showered in compliments.

Just so you know, she was never good at accepting compliments. Her mind would go crazy and blabber incoherent sounds, just as if her brain didn't want to accept them. Anita was a complicated machine, but she seemed to be working well.

"I hope us all do as good as we did last year, and even better if possible. So, let's make this as brief as possible and just have dinner already, dammit! CHEERS!"

"CHEERS!"

Anita was never a fan of parties. She never messed around or drank really that much to get wasted – she shuddered at the thought. But this one seemed looked like a different kind of party in which the objective wasn't to drink the night away, but be aware of the stars shining with the tingle of alcohol in your throat. It was... calmer.

She smiled to herself, deeming herself to be lucky, and went with the cheers, laughing.

* * *

It was a lovely night, it really was being lovely.

Some were sitting, talking with others and making smart comments about things that made them laugh. It made them seem quite snotty, but the best thing was that they weren't snotty. Everyone in the room was so down-to-earth it made her feel confortable. It was an elegant party with normal people.

It was a perfect ocassion. Raul was also pestering Joan about Marian, to which the old lady laughed and decided to ignore. Joan told him stories about young Marian so he would be satisfied – she didn't want Raul to be bothering Marian or something when the pretty girl had stated she didn't want any commitment.

Anita smiled and glanced out the window. It felt weird for her to be somewhere else that wasn't her house at those hours. Well, she knew it was late, but she didn't feel that kind of blur she always got when she was mentally or socially exhausted. She was feeling each moment go by.

And if only she could taste those calm moments with Ivan, that would be great. Sadly, her prince charming wasn't anywhere to be seen. Lloyd was near her, now approaching her, it seemed.

"How come you're by yourself tonight?" he inquired, glass of wine on hand. Anita hadn't even noticed his tuxedo or his fixed hair until she had him in front of her. "You've been the queen of the night, and seeing you alone kind of tears me apart."

Anita chuckled with a smiled. "Wow, dramatic much, are we? Or more like _happy_ , should I say?"

"I like these kinds of evenings." he stated – blatantly ignoring her – glancing out the window as well. "I hope you're having a good time, too."

"I'm enjoying this night. I truly am."

"Then?"

Her eyes, kind of downcast, attached themselves to his. "How is it you're alone? I thought Ivan was with you."

She sighed. "I was hoping to chat with him for a while, but he's vanished from here. I hope he hasn't gone home to tuck Dirk in his bed."

Lloyd openly laughed, showing his pearly teeth. "Well, I could expect that from him. He's just that overprotective, and caring-"

Anita smiled with sarcasm. "You already know I like him, there's no need for you to actually _spam_ me with his virtues. Which I perfectly know anyway, but..."

"I think everyone knows you like him" he said, carefully dodging the word _love_ to avoid complicated implications or emotions. "excepting him."

"I think he's more like- _oblivious_ to the fact. He's the smart man in here, isn't he?"

"I don't really think he's playing dumb. That's not his game, you know." explained Lloyd with a serious face. "Didn't he tell you about Cindy and, well-"

Anita shrugged. "Yeah, he told me straight away. He seemed quite uneasy with the thought of a student in love with him. Like, can you imagine that?" she sighed sympathetically. "It must be uncomfortable."

"It must be." stated he. "I would have never imagined Cindy losing her cool over Ivan. Nobody on his mind would have. However, it happened." Lloyd remained silent, recollecting his thoughts. "I guess some things are just destined to change."

Anita nodded quietly and hummed in agreement, taking in his words. "It's not our business to sniff around that topic, anyway. It must have been hard for them to get over that hardship."

"It must have hurt Cindy to have unrequited feelings being so young."

Matter-o-factly, Anita stated. "It does hurt."

Lloyd could sense where those words and hidden feelings of fear came from. Her voice had changed ever so quickly. "Your feelings aren't unrequited, Anita."

"And how do you know that?"

Maybe the same way he knew she had feelings for Ivan – very deep feelings. You could just see that in their eyes, in their movements or those tender glances they threw at each other when the other wasn't looking. But, Lloyd didn't have words to put their feelings into voice, them being so complicated yet so simple. So, he remained silent. It could also be the case he was wrong, and giving her false hope was a very miserable thing to do.

But he knew he wasn't wrong. He stood quiet so he didn't risk making mistakes. Love wasn't something to mess with and Anita seemed to be the girl who had been rejected multiple times.

The blonde bowed softly, excusing herself and leaving Lloyd to deal with his conflicted thoughts about them. Seeing his secret lover slightly upset, Sherry walked to his side.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." deadpanned Lloyd bitterly, sipping from his wine and having a bad feeling about the situation. But he swallowed it down to the pit of his stomach. "Just... nothing."

Anita closed the double doors softly, as if she didn't want to wake a baby up, or was running away from home. The blonde had been inside for the longest of times and her conversation with Lloyd had drained her energy. She needed some air.

Also, the moon looked quite dashing that night. It was the moment to go sightseeing without moving an inch. With the spring breeze caressing her strands and soft skin, the farmer sighed and shivered slightly from the change of temperatures.

"Anita?"

She almost jumped after hearing his soft voice calling her out. After a quick recovery, the cutie looked behind and saw Ivan leaning against the wall, not very far from her. She had been so mesmerized with the night's beauty that she hadn't seen him standing there.

Anita wanted to bang her head against a wall.

"Oh, Ivan. I hadn't seen you there!" exclaimed she. "You seem to be... kinda lurking in the shadows."

"Sorry if I startled you." he didn't really regret that. "I was deep in my thoughts. I did not notice you either after a few seconds."

Ivan approached her, but him being a little shy ended up standing two metres apart from her. Just in case she needed space to breath. Little did he know, she wouldn't have minded even if he suffocated her.

"Don't worry. Actually, I..."

"Yes?"

Her throat closed, refusing to get any words out. It seemed her heart was protecting her from saying anything too revealing, stupid that could reveal her feelings even more. Anita knew – kind of – he was aware of her feelings. She sensed that. Making a fool of herself by revealing herself even more wasn't a smart move. She'd try to, at least, conceal her love for him.

Just so they could breath easy for once. Even if it was just paranoia, she'd hide herself.

"I... was looking for you." muttered she, blushing slightly. After that, she gathered the rest of her courage and looked at him. She was screaming inside but looked rather calm on the outside. "I haven't seen you much at the party after the dinner. "

"Oh, I see." did he look... disappointed? "Sorry for that. I don't enjoy being in such full stances. Is there anything you have to tell me?"

Wow, he said all of that on the first try. It always took him a few moments to catch his words so she wouldn't laugh at the stuttering mess he really was. Ivan would always try to look calm for her, but he was very shy when it came to Anita. She had such an impact on her.

"Nothing in particular, really." she could tell him about her great crush on him, or about her boring days, or how of a silly girl she must look. Glancing on his direction – and getting distracted with the slow blow of his golden tresses in the wind – she breathed crisp air.

Now she felt cold. Not really strange considering how thin her dress was. Her arms were bare, sending shivers through her spine.

Anita should get inside so she didn't get a cold. Instead, she stood there like a tree and tried to withstand the temperatures. _"This is too cold. It's spring, god-"_

Anita felt something soft and, above all, warm wrap around her shoulders. She glanced in his direction again and found him standing awfully close, with his hands on her shoulders. "Oh, Ivan-"

"I don't want you to go yet." said he without thinking. Now, such blunt words were new. He reconsidered his next words with great care. Just as Anita, he didn't want to show his feelings and look like a fool. "I mean... we have not talked that much tonight, have we?"

Point taken. But Sherry and, well, anyone else with a pair of useful eyes would have said otherwise. Their glances just spoke books about how they felt.

They were so obvious it was frustrating, too.

"Yeah, we haven't."

It had been two days since Ivan's Bazaar fiasco. He wanted to ask about her day abroad, and why she had just brisked away the moment he tried to talk to her. She looked busy, so he just let her have her way.

But Miss Just-kind-of-love-of-his-life hadn't talked to him – in terms of actual conversation – and he wouldn't let her escape now he had the chance. But it turns out she actually wants to stay – stay with _him_.

That made him feel so squishy inside.

"How was your trip to Konahona?" and he hadn't meant to bring the topic into the conversation, but there he went. Why did he lose his mind anytime she was near?

"Konohana, Ivan, _Konohana_." corrected she with a smile. "I ended up going with her for half of the path. I hope she was okay on her own."

"Lillian, was it?" she nodded. "How old is she?"

"She's a year older than me... 22." but they were so alike you'd have thought they shared ages, too. Those eyes of theirs were their most precious treasure.

Ivan loved her eyes. Anita loved his, so sincere and kind. Everytime they looked at each other, they'd lose themselves into the other.

They were so obvious it was beautiful as well.

"I'm glad you're back." confessed he with a sweet smile. "I attended the Bazaar so I could pay you a visit, but Felix told me you were absent."

Anita looked at him with a soft smile and the kindest of eyes. Her hand grazed his wrist. "I saw your Sashimi when I got back. " her voice had gone low. "It was very tasty. Thank you."

He leant near her and whispered a few words back. "You're welcome."

It was then when both realized how close and intimate they had got. They seemed to have been literally drawn to each other. And, with burning cheeks and thumping hearts, none of them moved.

She sighed contently, musing on how soft his jacket was feeling and the touch of their shoulders. Their hands were brushing each other very lightly, igniting low sparks. Those were flames in both hearts.

"It's a lovely night." muttered she, leaning on his shoulder. He was taller than her – she came up to his chin, feeling small compared to him – so she would lean onto his upper arm.

"Yes." agreed he, drawing quiet courage from her calm demeanor. It relaxed him to no end and back. "There is a gentle breeze tonight. It is very soothing."

Anita hummed in agreement. Both of their hands interlaced in a silent vow of adoration that they didn't notice. It was an unconscious notion none of them would aknowledge or a while.

He gave a little squeeze to her hand just like she had done back there, at the dinner, and tried to capture that moment for the future. So did she in a state of pure bliss, his hand in hers in a dazed moment.

It was a perfect moment: both so intimate, silent and beautiful. It was the charm that their relationship possesed: both being shy around each other, but able to mold to the other and get so close that they could comunicate without words.

But they were just too scared to admit their feelings to the other: her being too scared and afraid to look foolish, him being so shy and scared at the same time. He sometimes wondered would she choose him, out of everyone...?

The thought seemed ridiculous.

And they were so obvious it was heartbreaking to see them so close, yet so far.

So, so very painful.

* * *

 **I TRIED QUALITY WRITING. I actually tried. But their feelings... they're a mess. And grammar and... ugnslsbejsjs *drowns in sea of shipping obssesion***

 **Thanks for reading! More to come next week! I'll get to the drama soon! :D**


	4. Outstanding

**Longest one yet! And no quality writing this time either, AND IT'S WHEN I NEED IT THE MOST GDAMT. Also, I apologize beforehand for any grammar mistake I may have made. Enjoy yourself here**.

* * *

It was a sunny Thursday when it dawned on him.

Ivan had been spending his free afternoon strolling by the streams, gazing at the fishes that swam by. He longed to touch the waters and try to relax. And by relaxing he meant doze off into some good sleep. The teacher's head ached terribly.

Because it seemed like all his thoughts trailed off and towards certain farmer that he couldn't find that certain day.

Ivan wasn't supposed to be rounding around her presence everytime they met, but it was pure – and unconscious gravitation towards each other. He didn't know whether to like such attraction to her or despise it for showing so much of his feelings. He loved her, maybe with excession.

But, she to him? Was a complete mystery. He didn't know if he had to take all their encounters seriously. They had had so many, just way too many for him to appreciate in great detail. All of them were precious for him, but he didn't reckon which one showed her feelings for him – if there was any.

And he was dying to know. It was the first time Ivan was just impatient to get straight to the point and see her view on him. Did she see him as a friend? Maybe... something else, he hoped? She could be engaged in another relationship as well.

His imagination could go wild, for posibilities were endless. However, he wouldn't wade in too deep.

The thing is, he hadn't seen her that day. Nor the previous one or the other before that. Two days of absence and Ivan was silently dreading life.

He hated being in love.

Now, his curiosity for her was growing into concern. Ivan was sure he had checked everywhere – very, very subtly. Like, he had only passed by and kind of asked some people with great care in his eyes. Dirk hadn't seen her anywhere either, sparking some worry in him as well.

The caramel haired man went to the waterfall area, only to find Lloyd staring at the waters deep in thought, just like he had been minutes ago. He approached the salesman with great tranquility.

"Good evening, Lloyd." greeted the teacher, stading by him.

Lloyd snapped out of his daze to dedicate a half smile to his fellow friend. "Good evening, Ivan. Such warm weather we're having, huh?"

Nodding, he murmured a response, musing on the whirling breeze. "Indeed."

"I take it you're searching for Anita, right?"

The light tone in his voice made it clear to Ivan that Lloyd knew where she was. He looked at him, hopeful. "Do you know where she could be?"

"So you don't really know either." Lloyd seemed disappointed. It turns out he was expecting Ivan to know her whereabouts lately, but his frantic tone showed another truth. He seemed just as clueless as everyone in town.

"I do not know where she is. I have not seen her in a few days." Ivan sighed, distraught. "I worry about her."

Lloyd smiled fondly. "So do I. But I'm afraid I haven't talked to her either. Last time I saw her was at the party last Monday." it seemed like a long time ago somehow. "I don't think anything has happened to her, nothing harmful at least."

Ivan seemed deep in thought. "Hasn't anyone gone to her farmhouse? She may be ill or something."

And it was such an unsettling idea that he wanted to rush in there and take care of her. Because, again, just the thought of her in any pain of any sort made him shiver.

Lloyd looked at his friend with a sympathetic look. "Angelo looked around her area. All her animals had been taken care of, brushed and given fodder." there was a trace of mischeviousness in his voice. "She's a grown up girl. Whatever she's doing that is keeping her so busy will let her come back eventually."

Ivan knew how funny his worried face must look, but he wasn't having any of it. "Stop it with the fun look." the blonde sighed. "Is she really lost then?"

"Well... rumor has it – more like Kevin has it – that she's been hanging around this area on her own."

Ivan glanced at a thoughtful Lloyd with furrowed eyebrows. The salesman wasn't a big fan of rumors, not even the slightest bit. So, whenever he had to use them as a last option, it meant he was running out of solutions. Which, being Lloyd, was a very rare ocassion.

It was Ivan's turn to be skeptical. "How come you have not seen her, then? You live on the center of the area."

He sighed. "I know. I am busy with other things than her, you know." Lloyd pinched the bridge of his nose, stressed out with the situation. "I haven't seen her at Raul's either, or at the café. I asked Freya about Anita a few days ago, since I had things to talk with her."

"You are just as clueless as I am about the situation, then." stated Ivan with another sigh of his.

"I think your best pick is to go talk to Kevin. He's basically running around everywhere you look, so he knows about – well, basically everyone's location. Such a social kid." he murmured the last part with some amusement.

Well, even if the teacher and the prankster weren't best of friends, his information would have to do for the moment. Ivan dedicated his friend a smile of gratefulness. "Thank you, Lloyd. I will see you later, right?"

The black haired man chuckled. "It's a plan then. I'll see you around later."

Ivan took his leave and walked towards the town center, still thinking about how weird the situation was. The always jumping and moving Anita had somehow gone missing, and it seemed it'd be his mission to bring her back.

He soon found himself searching for the little kid in the horse race track. Ivan could vividly remember having some walks around the place – such a nice breeze it had, some minty scent and a charming pair of pools – and sitting down to read a poetry book when it was quiet enough. Other times, he'd just go there to disconnect for a few hours.

Some times, he's think about his parents. Those cheerful memories of a sweet but eventually failed childhood, torn apart by a catastrophic accident – he could still see trees flying, Dirk in his arms and his parents lost to the typhoon –, would chase him around the whole day. His nights would be filled with anguish, nightmares, and trips to the kitchen for some water – or wine, depends on how harsh the night was with him – that Dirk never noticed.

And thank God he didn't. He didn't want his little brother to be troubled with his constant worries over something that happened ages ago. It was a big brother's role to now rise Dirk from the ashes of a dark past. It was his upmost priority.

Other times, though, something different would happen. Some days, he'd hear constant clapping of a horse's steps in a frantic run, and look up to see Anita riding her horse until both were out of breath. She was such a passional woman, always chasing her objectives to the end of time and back.

It was almost unavoidable to look at the race. The way her hair lapped on the curve of her back, her satisfacted grin whenever they'd be fast enough to reach a record, or the glint on both her horse's and her eyes on the run. For him, it was a slow motion moment of utter peace. Anita had the ability to transfer peace to his troubled heart and mend his worries. Even a mile away from her, just the thought of her smile melted him.

He was a pure sucker when it came to her.

Anyway, he spotted Kevin catching his breath after what seemed like a long day of tag games with Cindy and Lauren. There were also a pair of other children he didn't know.

Ivan was pretty good with children. He was accustomed to all kinds of personalities: shy ones like Lauren, chipper ones like Cindy, pranksters like Dirk himsef when he was younger. But he never knew what to make of Kevin.

So, slightly self-conscious about asking for advice to a child he knew almost nothing about, he approached the sparking group of little ones. He threw a smile to his fellow students Cindy and Lauren.

Cindy, now comfortable with her little crush on the boy, smiled back and waved at him. "Hey, teacher! Come here with us!"

"Uh... Cindy?" all children looked at his standing figure. The teacher sweatdropped. "There's no need for you to call me teacher out from classes."

She giggled. "Oh, it's just to show some manners!"

Kevin smirked. "More like show off-"

Cindy slapped his shoulder rather hard. Lauren grimaced.

The blonde man chuckled. "Actually, I'm not here to play. At least, not today." everyone's eyes were on him now. "I am here for Kevin."

Surprised, the mentioned pointed to himself muttering a small "Me?" with a frown. He then profusely pouted. "Oh man! What have I done now?"

Ivan was quick to explain himself. "Oh, no! You haven't done anything wrong! None that I know of, at least..."

Kevin exchanged puzzled glances with Cindy, who simply shrugged. "Then, what is it?" asked the little kid, smiling with confidence.

The oldest one sighed, not used to such a lively kid who dedicated his life to laughing it all off. He was sure a breath of fresh air. Was that why Anita got along with him so well?

"I'm looking for Anita." judging by Cindy and Lauren's knowing looks, that wasn't surprising. "And I have been told you have seen her these days."

It took a few moments for the little child to travel back in time and remember when that happened. He eventually did remember and a spark emerged in his eyes. "Ah, yeah! I did see her! And not a long time ago, actually!"

Ivan's tension brought by the expectation broke loose and he allowed himself to sigh from relief. If she had been seen, she was okay. At least, that's what he could tell – Kevin hadn't made any notes about some sickness she could have had the moment he saw her, nor did he look worried.

"When and where did you see her?"

"Whoa, take it easy! I'm not any machine of some sort, I can't remember everything." as always, Kevin laughed the teacher's concern off. "But..." his expression turned serious. This started to worry the twins and their companions, who had been silent the whole time.

"I saw her near the waterfall. She was passing the bridge at that time." recalled the prankster, now seemingly stern about that memory. "It was nightime. Imagine how late it was, I wasn't supppsed to be out!"

"Then... why where you-?"

Kevin interrupted him to avoid unnecessary complications in his story. "Anyway, I was sitting on the rock steps near the path to her farm to get some fresh air. I saw her coming from town at one o'clock or so-"

It was Cindy's time to speak. "Now, why were you-"

"The thing is, I got all worked up, like, why was she there so late, in the dead of the night? It was creepy! Seriously, she scared the life out of me!" exclaimed he. His expression wasn't any cheerful nonetheless. "I don't know why she was roaming around so lately. But I could see she was tired. She was more like crawling her way home. Man, so so sad and tired...!"

Okay, that was alarming. Ivan widened his eyes and listened to his now lifesaver.

"The thing is, when she had already passed the bridge, I saw a pretty grasshopper. When I looked up seconds after, she was gone!"

"Whaaaat?" exclaimed Cindy and Lauren with agape mouths.

Ivan tried to keep his temper on check and not freak out. She had vanished? What on the world? "Hold on, don't you know where she went?"

"I dunno, man." both boys were now frowning. "Now that I think about it, this has happened more than once. This also happened yesterday, and I haven't seen her around today. In fact, I don't even know if she got home!"

All children gasped loudly. Ivan sighed, tired from the situation. He needed to know where she was. Why was Anita so absent in the sunshine but seemingly active during late midnight? It didn't make sense! "Goodness gracious..." muttered Ivan. "So, you said you saw her at midnight, right?"

"Later than that, but yeah, around that time. Why?"

"Don't worry." disappointed and having a clear mission in mind, he turned to leave. "You stay home tonight. I'll be the one awake this time."

So he stuck to his word and actually stayed the whole evening at home, trying to comprehend how he had ended in such situation so quickly. First, he was having a nice time with her bathing in the moonlight; then she disappears _again_ and he has to find her.

Seriously though, that tag game was tiring. As much as Ivan loved, adored and worshipped Anita, she could also try to stay put so he knew the direction of his prayers. He was pretty lost with the situation.

And the only one who could give him answers – _good_ and _valid_ answers, was her.

The final time came for him. When he knew Dirk was sleeping soundly in his bedroom – snoring loudly – and it was all clear in town, he put on his shoes and went out without making any noise. He softly closed the door and started his walk to the waterfall area.

It was ghostly silent around him. Compared to the usual chatter of laughter around at daytime and all the cheer seemed to transfer during those hours, it was scary to wander around so late. There was no sound around him excepting the water flowing in the river. If one focused enough, he'd hear the soft breathings of the citizens while they slept.

It was a relaxing walk. Apart from the lurking shadows cast by the trees, there was no harm in going for a walk in the middle of the night.

There was a moment in which he sat on a rock near the river, half-hidden by the trees near Lloyd's house. A few minutes later of pure silence and tension, he heard steps on wood tiles.

His ears perked up at this. Ivan searched for the source of sound and found himself staring at Anita's tired figure. She seemed rather exhausted – not limping like Kevin had said, but it was a pretty close concept – but at least she didn't come across as sick.

Once she set one feet on the other side of the bridge, Ivan decided to take matters into his own hands. If the night was being crazy itself because of their private mystery, why wouldn't he act reckless for once? It wasn't like she'd hurt him, so why not try?

He inhaled a huge amount of air and completely lost his mind when Anita spun around at the creek of his steps on the bridge. Both jumped a few steps back at the sudden sight of each other.

"Mother of-" Anita stopped herself from yelling. "Ivan! What are you doing up this late?"

He approached her with a stern look. "So you talk now. I have been trying to locate you these days, but you were nowhere to be found!" exclaimed Ivan, half whispering in behalf of the salesman that slept in a house near them.

He was so out of his mind he had lost his usual manners and composture. Anita seemed to react to this.

"Oh."

He titled his head. "Oh? Where have you been? I was worried sick about you!"

Okay, that was something way too exagerated to say, but it was true he had been earnestly worried. She actually blushed at his outburst. "I've been... busy, that's all."

"Is that all you can say?" inquired he, stepping closer to her. "Nobody knew a single thing about you. Have you been out of town these days?"

Anita scratched her head. The blush still tingled under the light of a streetlamp. "I have been arranging things here and there for the next Bazaar. I have to make up for the one I missed last week." explained she.

He was more relieved now, so he breathed out, content. However, her expression was still a bit uptight, which made him uneasy. Something was off. "I see..." murmured he.

She turned on her heel to leave, not wanting to answer to any of his questions he sure had in mind. "Well now, if you ex-"

Before Anita flew away, the teacher gripped her wrist. Now he was getting irritated. "Hold on there. Why are you up so late anyway? Arranging the Bazaar never took you much time."

Anita grinned, sheepish, and freeing herself from his grasp. "O-Oh, I'm pretty sore these days. Apart from that, it was more work this week. Now, I'll be on my way-"

But Ivan, stubborn for once, got on her way quickly. "Stop trying to leave. Tell me what's going on, Anita." ordered he with hard eyes. Hard eyes that needed the truth.

Maybe he was fussing over nothing? What if he had gone over the edge? Oh God, her eyes– they were trembling – he's so dead now. She looks so tired and seriously needs some rest and here he went, trying to pry something out of her so she split out some truth he didn't know of, and-

She sighed. "Okay."

Her eyes were downcast. Did that mean... there was something...?"

"Come with me, quickly."

The cure blondie turned around and went for the waterfall, Ivan trailing close behind. She decided it'd be better to explain before he got the shock of his life.

"I've been busy, that's true." there was a smile on her face at that. "Everything has come crashing together and I haven't had time to do anything else than run around."

She climbed up the platform behind the falling streams easily. As Ivan was struggling to climb it up, she offered a hand he declined politely. A few seconds later, he was on his feet, standing by her and brushing dust off his coat. Ivan sighed kindly. "I understand. I was just worried and I guess I snapped at you. It was uncalled for."

The farmer shifted her weight from feet to feet, trying to delay what was about to happen. What would he think of... that? What if he told everyone about her little secret and it became a touristic parade? Gosh, she wouldn't want that.

Would he take her seriously? How would he react?

Seeing her deep in thought, Ivan rushed to apologize. "Look, it's alright. It is certainly not my business to know where you are 24/7."

Anita blinked twice before answering him. "No, it's alright. I trust you enough to know you'll never spill the beans about this, right?"

He was starting to get scared. Had she been stealing from Raul's shop and she was feeling guilty? Or worse, was she hiding some kind of corpse at her farm? Now, _this_ didn't seem like a good idea.

She started to put herself together and gathered enough courage to grab his arm and get it over with. "Now, come on. The sooner we deal with this, the better."

Anita tugged him to the cavity on the wall behind the waterfall. It was so dark she could barely make out his tight features. It made her kind of stiff to wonder what he was expecting, not being sure if he'd be elated, scared or blatantly ignoring.

"Hold on, where are-"

She shushed him. "Just follow me, dammit!"

So he did. A few moments later he found himself inside a hole that seemed to be envolved in shadows. He would have never suspected that his first night on his own with Anita would end up like this. Never in his dreams.

But, suddenly, a bright light envolved both of them, sending the pair to the mysterious lair of a silent woman. He removed hands from his eyes once he knew that the 'danger' was over. Once he did, Ivan blanked twice and rubbed his eyes.

He blanked again, and looked at his crush. Anita seemed unfazed by this miracle of nature – in fact, she started rumaging through her bag while she stepped forward, going through the wooden path on the water.

This startled him to no end, so the blonde teacher went after her. "Hold on! What are you doing? More specifically, where are you going!?"

Anita frowned as she took a recipent from he bag and glared at him. "Quiet, will you? She doesn't like noise!"

"Huh? She...?" Ivan trailed off, speechless. "What are you-?"

"Anita."

He froze.

"What is this ruckus about?" a tall and well, beautiful woman trailed through the path towards them. She had a rather cold aura. "You know I don't..."

Then the blackhaired woman settled her eyes on him. That made her go silent. Anita didn't know whether she was angry or not, but if she was, she didn't notice. Emiko spoke up again. "Who is this? Is he a friend of yours?"

Anita grinned nervously and nodded her head. She glanced at her fellow companion. "Yeah. He's a dear friend of mine, Ivan."

Dear friend. Wow, that sounded nice. But, at the same time... it didn't. He wanted to be more to her. So much more. But he was so transfixed by Emiko's beauty he didn't dwell on that for very long. She had such silky hair and perfect facial complexion, long hands and graceful eyes. It was one of the best sight he had ever seen.

Ivan didn't notice Anita's frown on him either, seeing him in a daze and looking at Emiko. Now, that wasn't nice!

"I see." said Emiko without any expression that showed any first impression of him. "Nice to meet you, Ivan."

The mention of his name made him snap out of his trance and nod at whatever she had said. Afortunately, it was a convenient – albeit dumb – answer. Unfortunately for him, Anita had noticed his dazzled state induced by her 'friend's' beauty. And, again, that wasn't nice.

Not at all.

Wordlessly, the farmed handed the recipent to the goddess-like girl with a small, forced smile. Even if Emiko didn't say a single thing about it, she noticed Ivan's eyes on her and Anita's heart burning with ire. Wasn't that... interesting?

"Thank you for this." Emiko smiled in a slight sign of gratitude. "I reckon you should leave. It's late in the outworld, isn't it?"

Ivan wasn't offering any coherent answer, so Anita sighed and grabbed his shoulder to lead him away. "It is, and we'll get going. I'll see you tomorrow, Emiko."

And with that, they disappeared. Emiko giggled and headed home as well.

When both lovebirds were out from the secret nest, she hurried to walk away to forget what had happened in there. Was she... jealous? Why had he stared at her like a freaking moron? Yeah, Emiko was pretty as hell, but why stare so deeply at her?

She wasn't jealous, okay? But she was almost livid at him. So livid for staring at another woman with those big, lovely eyes of his...

"Hey, wait for me!"

Anita hesitantly stopped on her tracks without turning around to face him.

"So, was that it?" Ivan could already tell she was troubled with something we couldn't pinpoint now, but he made a guess. "I won't tell anybody, I swear."

She nodded curtly. "Is this why...?"

And she went on with the nodding, but offering a proper explanation now. "You know how eager I am to make friends. I'm always searching for good gifts for her out from town. I usually get to do some jewels too, but I recently found out she's not fond of those."

"I see..." he said, understanding now the ground she stood at. So, Anita was away searching for gifts for a friend? That was adorable of her. It even made her more lovely for him.

But given her back staring at him, she still seemed upset. "Hey, are you alright?"

Anita sighed with pure exhaustion. She should have known other women with prettier looks would attract him – he was human after all. But it still ticked her off. The farmed had always thought they had something special going on – call it unrequited feelings, close friendship, whatever. But it seemed special no matter how unrequited her feelings were or how platonic her feelings were.

Although... seeing how easy it was for him to be attracted to others and how marvelled he seemed at the sight of Emiko, she now saw it with other eyes. She didn't feel that special to him anymore.

Call her conceited, call her selfish, call her possesive – didn't matter to her. All she knew now was that Emiko was a pretty, polite woman that could fit in Ivan's interest's better than she would ever do.

And it just tore her apart in slow motion, making it even more painful for her to breathe after this realization.

Anita was exhausted. But it wasn't a typical exhaustion... it was more like an emotional soreness, some kind of painful emotion she didn't know of. It was so foreign for her to feel so down all of a sudden – just because of a glance.

"Anita?"

She shook her head with a sad smile, glancing at him. Ivan couldn't really read her expression, which alarmed him. Her eyes were always genuine emotion. Now it was something he had never seen.

"Sorry, I'm just..." the blonde caressed her temples. "I'm just tired, and I bet you are too." her voice was kind of raspy and low. It was purely uncharacteristic of her.

He hadn't realized how numb he felt until that exact moment. Ivan yawned and stretched his arms. "I am, indeed. And I have classes tomorrow, so I'll see you tomorrow if I can even wake up."

Anita giggled without much enthusiasm. Such a tiny bit of information and a silly thing had hurt her so much. Maybe she'd see it differently the day after, so she decided to shake it off and wave him goodbye.

But the fact that Ivan seemed so oblivious to her sudden pain was breaking her inside.

Unbeknownst to her, that's all he thought about that night.

* * *

 **HAHAHAHAHA don't I suck? This was the main idea of the story – this is 100% legit.**


	5. Outheard

**Well, hello. Let's get it on~**

* * *

When she woke up - with a hurting headache, one of those that make you want to scream to the heavens - Anita weighed the possibility of staying in bed, tucked in and wrapped in a blanket cocoon. The pretty farmer sighed, knowing that now, it wasn't such an easy do or not decision: more than one life depended on her now, and she couldn't just skip possibilities because of a heartache.

Her eyes dropped even lower when the blonde heart the pitter-patter of rain outside. Sighing, she grabbed her milker, scissors and brush and headed for the barn. Knowing full-well that her animals would still be half asleep at that hour, Anita switched tasks and went to her subterranean orchard. She collected the fall tea leaves from their bushes, harvested her carrots and spinach and gathered some of her fresh wheat. She'd put that in the mill to get some flour later.

After putting all her new harvests in the storage, she decided that it could use some renovations. It was at its top when it came to refrigerating, but it lacked space. She'd do the numbers and fit in those renovations somewhere. With that note in the back of her mind, she milked her cows, her lone sheep and picked up her chicken's eggs. One of them had hatched a golden one - great! This would come in handy.

She also put them in and breathed in, tranquil. She was half-grateful for the rain, because that meant the animals would stay in and the farmer wouldn't have to take them out. The same went with the chickens. Even if Nessie did almost all the work by herself, Anita would sometimes have to take out one or two that were left forgotten. Speaking of said cat, she was peacefully sleeping by Anita's bed, snuggled against herself.

The farmer approached her sleeping form with slow steps and sat by the soft creature. It meowed when she caressed her fur, to which she only smiled sadly. It had been only mere days since Ivan and her had been like that, close to one another and smiling. Now, she was a wreck because he had looked at another woman. As silly as it sounds, she was breaking.

But, being serious, could she really take offense on that? It wasn't new that pretty girls like Freya caught his eye. Anita should be used to that, but she hadn't even tried to. Instead, she liked to believe Ivan would always be hers, that some fate would tie them back together. Well, news flash, that wasn't such an easy task.

 _"This is... this is bullshit."_ a sole tear trailed down her cheek. _"So... I'm so stupid..."_

Because the thought that Ivan could love someone else hadn't really bugged her until now. It was probably that which troubled her. Thanks to his innocent and dazed glance on Emiko, Anita had come to realize that she wasn't the only one on the run for him. Many other women could see his traits, just as she had done.

Why did such simply reasoning bring her to tears? Was she really that afraid of losing him...? When did she become so... dependant from somebody else? How long had it been?

Her cat, sensing her turmoil, nuzzled against the blonde with earnest love. The farmer grabbed the ball of sweet nothings and put it near her heart. Her head fell onto her knees and she just cried for some minutes to let her fears out. Nessie listened to her unsteady rhythm with soft paws and meows.

After a few minutes of stress venting, she fed her companion and decided to go out. Against all odds, she even felt motivated enough to put all her wheat to process and wait for the whole thing to be done. Once it was all grinded and neat, she exited the mill, jumped over the river and headed home again.

But she wasn't just done yet. Her emotional constipation was eating her over, so Anita decided to go over Joan's café for a quick snack. The cutie slammed her hat deeper on her head with frustration and headed out.

A few minutes later, she was at the warm and cozy place that was the town café. It was a small place full of all kinds of sweet smells: from candy to sandwiches and cakes, maybe tea or donuts other times. But her favourite scent of them all was the fresh bread when just taken out from the oven. That was nice.

That explains why she got the surprise of her life when Marian came over her with some slices of warm and fresh bread. The smell was just as charming as the waitress' smile. "Good morning, Anita. How was your day so far?"

She plastered a false smile on her face. Thanks to the warm scent that was invading her nostrils, it became much more realistic. "It was good, but it became even better just... right about now." she concluded with a breathy laugh. "But it's raining cats and dogs outside. I would have preferred some sun instead of a downpour."

Joan arrived with some hot milk and a fair share of cookies. Now, that was some incentive to bring up my sour mood! She shoved into her bread as Joan laughed at her haste. "Slow down, dear, or you'll choke!"

She swallowed all the food at once and sighed contently. She relaxed her eyes observing the steam emanating from the milk. "Sorry about that. I needed some conversation."

Just when she said that, Marian's mouth formed a 'O' shape and gasped. "Oh, did anything happen, dear?"

The farmer then sank in her seat and sighed, scratching the stress out of her face. "Ivan happened."

It seemed to dawn on them, for they ooed and made a nasty face.

"It's just... I know you all know how I feel, okay?" blushed the farmer. Joan laughed jovially.

"Well, if we're going to be plain honest, it's not that obvious. You're that sweet with everyone else in town, but it turns out you seem to be much eager to conquer his heart more than anyone else."

Well, she wasn't eager now. Eager was the last adjective to be assigned to the idea of him talking to her. Not now, and maybe not ever.

Anita fidgeted, uncomfortable. "I like him, a lot actually. But it seems like as much as I drop hints at him - more like throw them at his face-" both elder women laughed at her remark. "he seems dumb enough to make me believe he's playing the oblivious game on me. And I don't like playing with my own feelings."

The beautiful waitress patted her friend's head to comfort her, even if she knew it was a pretty useless action to soothe her conflicted state. "There, there. Drink some of this."

She did.

"I don't really see Mr. Ivan playing those kinds of games. He's the gentleman in here, not the jerk!" complained Joan. Anita could tell she was to stick to her beliefs, and no one would blame her, but that's how Anita saw things and that's how she was planning to keep them. Just until they cleared things out. "Aren't you just mistaking things?"

Anita crossed her arms. After a few seconds of silence with the constant crash of rain outside, she shook her head. "It's not a matter of being mistaken or not. It's the way I see it that's depressing me. I am afraid..."

She had intended to let the phrase hang in mid-air, but both of her friends' concerned glares made her finish her thoughts. "... I am scared. I don't want us to reach a breaking point in which we can't stand my conflicted feelings, or maybe because he lays eyes on some other cute girl. What if I lose him to someone else who he whole heartedly loves? Someone he shares feelings with..."

Marian tapped her index against her chin, thinking. "Then... the issue is that you think Ivan is ignoring your feelings and you're afraid you may lose him? Lose him because he may not reciprocate your love and he may get annoyed because of your feelings?"

Anita only rose an eyebrow. She had brushed the 'love rivals' concept away, but it was a pretty close guess. "Yeah, kind of."

Joan pouted. "Well, if isn't that the silliest thing I have heard today!"

"Grandma!"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but it's true!" the old woman then looked at Anita's shocked face at her outburst. "I'm very glad to tell you that will never happen. I've know Ivan for all his life and I assure you he's not that kind of boy. It upsets me a bit that you think so lowly of him!"

That was right, though. Anita had always praised his talent with children and his cool composure. It seems like jealousy and sadness were playing tricks on her. Again, not really jealous. She would keep on telling that to herself.

"Ivan and you are the _sweetest_ pair of lovebirds I've ever been blessed to lay my eyes on." stated the lady, smiling now. "He looks at you with a lovely spark, just as intense as yours. And I can see you both thinking about each other even if you're miles away. An old lady like me can tell."

Ah, so now all her matchmaker expertise Marian had someday told her about started peaking here. "I don't think that's quite true..."

"Anita, I can just tell he loves you back. I bet I'm not the only one, though. Marian here has sometimes rambled about how cute you two were when you went for walks together!" now the waitress had a sheepish smile while Joan looked at her mischievously. "Isn't that right?"

Marian nodded slightly. Anita drank some milk.

"All you should do now is go talk to him about this!" easier said than done. "I'm sure he'll understand and most likely kiss the life out of you!"

Anita could see their wedding already on display in Joan's eyes. Marian was quick to give some sensible advice. "Now, I think you should talk to him. If you delay this talk any longer, you may actually lose him because of your doubts. And you wouldn't want that, would you?"

This made the famer stay put for a few seconds, blinking and processing the wisdom of the other blonde. Because Marian was right and because Joan _could_ be right, Anita grabbed her glass of milk and drank it in one go. She acted quick on getting up, biding them goodbye after their quick psychological session, and went out. Rain hadn't stopped pouring down. The river would surely overload if the weather went on being a brat to the village.

With some newfound cheer, Anita made her way to Dirk and Ivan's doorway and raised her fist to _knock knock_ on their door. Just before her fist made contact with the surface, she heard some noise inside. Curious, she approached the window at the right of the house and dediced to eavesdrop. With her and Ivan being in _not-so-friendly terms_ \- on her part, though, because he didn't know what the hell was going on and the paranoia was only one-sided - all barriers of ethical principles were kind of ignored.

Let's say she was just making sure the brothers were all right without barging in and making a big deal out of nothing.

"... then she did that?" that was Dirk's voice entering the kitchen. He sounded amused.

"Yeah, she did. I don't know why but..." maybe it was because of the rain, or because of her inner conflict with the sound of his troubled voice, but she didn't hear anything else after a few seconds later. "she was strange, okay? She was acting differently. It's been bugging me last night."

What were they talking about?

"Geez, man, I don't know what to say. You mean... after _that_ happened, she seemed upset?" there was a thoughtful pause. This seemed serious matter. "Kinda weirds me out, Ivan."

"It is weird, but what matters is that it's true. I saw it in her eyes." wait, hold onto your chairs, were they talking about last night? "The thing is, I do not know why. And I wish I knew."

Anita held her breath. He cared. He actually cared. It was genuine care for her well-being. That was some fresh air!

"But have just told me..." there was some doubt in Dirk's voice. Or so it seemed from the other side of the wall. "You just told me you didn't want anything to do with that girl, didn't you?"

She froze. From her feet to each strand of hair, she paralyzed. Did Ivan... did he really want to push her away? Oh no... did he...?

"I mean it." his voice didn't flicker, it didn't wave or break. It was plain. It wasn't hesitant. He truly _did_ mean it. "It's just because of her face. It's all I can think about."

Emiko.

Emiko's face... it had pulled him away...? How in the world?

"She's all I've been thinking about. And that face she did to me... that kind of smile..." inside her shell of despair, Anita didn't know if his voice was either melancholic or tender. None of those tones convinced her. "I cannot avoid the subject any longer, Dirk. Do you think I should tell her about this?"

Her hands flew to her mouth. Anita didn't know if there were tears cascading down her pretty cheeks or that wetness was caused by the rain. None of that mattered. She just needed to get out of there. Far away from him. From her everything. From the world. Anita didn't want to hear anymore, she had just heard enough - enough to break her down.

And the worst of it all was that she couldn't blame anyone for her sadness.

She broke in a haste run to avoid all the dark feelings that emanated from that house into her heart. In the midst of her frantic runaway, she bumped into a pretty someone who seemed to hold her before she slipped and fell.

"Hey, Anita! You alrig-" then Freya saw Anita's glassy eyes and did the math. She didn't know why, but something told her she would pry some information out of some good friend of hers. "Oh goodness. Let me get you inside, Anita. You look like a mess!"

Weak and tired of loafing around like a broken leaf, she let herself be led inside. Anita was, again, mentally exhausted, and could use a good girls' talk and some hot milk again.

* * *

 **Mama gives you 2 chapters per week and mama gives you drama too. Very light drama. I'm still very rusted at English writing, sorry for that. This was pretty rushed due to a slight illness. I'll edit this as soon as I am back on my feet. I'll give you more of this soon. Take care!**

 **Did I mention that breaking a person's heart twice just makes me feel pleasant? Yes quite.**


	6. Outbreathing

**This is a long ass chapter with minor swearing and brotp momentum.**

* * *

A few days after Dirk and Ivan's conversation, Anita was, again, disappearing. After that day, she focused her soul into giving love to her livestock, harvesting way too many turnips – which, mind you, occupied a whole land out of the two she had. She would be going to Wilbur's soon to get a terrain expansion along with the other one for the storage.

She'd be short of money for a few weeks. For both her wallet and heart's sake, she sowed all her turnip seeds, cabbage and asparagus, which were quite profitable. Her lands were fully occupied with growing crops, and taking care of all of that took a lot of time out of her schedule. She couldn't go downtown to greet everyone and stop for a chat – and don't even start with flowerpicking for the Flower Festival.

Regretfully, that would have to wait. She didn't have time for such time breakers.

But a part of her knew that the whole Ivan deal had a lot to do with this. Even occupied with her cows, she thought about him. Even caressing her cat, she remembered him. Even while watering her fields – she'd sometimes find herself watering naked soil – she saw his face.

Maybe a little trip over to her cousin's place would do for her, but it wasn't possible right now. She would be kind of bankrupt next week and that was the last thing in need.

With that stolen freedom due to Ivan, her economical shortage and enormous amounts of work to do be done, Anita would sometimes find herself sitting under the stairs of her underground orchard and with her face buried on her knees, crying a few tears because she didn't know what to do with herself.

However, Ivan was feeling more anxious each day that passed. It had been almost a week since Emiko's incident and she was amiss again. She never went for a walk around town anymore, nor spoke with anybody or stopped at Joan's for a quick meal. When he went to the Bazaar with hopes of talking to her, she was gone. People told him she had been by their stands – and informed him that she had been conned by a guy who supposedly sold pets – x time ago.

He never found her in there. And when the day was over, he actually caught her exiting the area. He never reached her in time to talk to her, for she sure took the shortcut in the upper side. Ivan was way too tired to chase after her, so he postponed his talk for the next day. He was sure chasing after her an awful lot this week.

The worst part of them all was that he knew where she was. Of course, Anita wasn't out of town. He would _casually_ go to the windmill in front of her house for some cheese and hear the noises of her livestock as they were taken out.

She stayed in the whole day.

And it unnerved him to no end. Because somehow, he knew he had something to with that – but he didn't know what he had done to drag her down to such pithole. It stressed Ivan out to see her so sad without knowing why.

Deep down, he knew. He knew it was his fault.

Not that he would admit it to himself, anyway.

Turns out that a week after meeting Emiko, he found Freya already waiting for him to get to the fountain near her house, place where they met before going to the city together. It wasn't usual for her to get there before Ivan, but he wouldn't complain about that. Her thoughtful face was something to call her out for, though.

"Good morning, Freya." she didn't look up. "How did you rise today?"

When she did look up, however, it was with a soft scowl on her delicate features. Again, that wasn't usual either. What was wrong with her? Had he already messed up before even starting?

"I'm okay." spat the brunette, still concealing some obvious ire. "Such a nice gesture of yours to care."

O-kay, was that supposed to be some kind of pun? Because he didn't get it. "Uh... Why wouldn't I care?"

She stared at him, firing missiles at his security. A minute later, Freya abruptly got up and started marching towards the bridge. Ivan wasn't going to have none of that.

"Hey, wait up!" he got a deja-vù. "What's wrong?"

She slowed down before turning around, glaring at him. "What's wrong, are you asking? How can _you_ out of all people ask that?"

The teachee checked his mental calendar to see if he had missed her birthday or something, only to realize that her birthday wasn't until late Autumn. Then, what was with her outburst?

"Freya, I'm afraid I don't understand what's wrong with you today." he explained, trying to soft her mood a little. "So if you could just calm down and explain instead of lashing out at me with no reason?"

That worked for a few seconds. Freya recovered her temper and glared again. "My God, Ivan. How can you- how in the world can you-"

"Stop tripping with your words." that riddle was starting to get annoying. "And tell me what happened."

"Why am I the one to tell you?" she said, staring at him as if the truth was in front of him. She had never seen him so lost before. "Do you really forget about things – about people that easily. Such a jerk you are!"

That was some hardcore punch to his guts. He swallowed the burning swearing on the tip of his tongue and tried to brush it off. "What's wrong with you today!?"

"Why would you say such a thing!?"

"What are you talking about!?"

She stepped towards him, now fully frowning and containing the urge to push him down the river. "I'm talking about Anita, you idiot! How could you- how-"

Just the mention of her name made him tense up. And he didn't like that. "Hold on, hold on a second. What are you talking about?"

"Are you really so stupid? God, I never thought you would be so dumb, so clueless, so-"

"Stop it with the rambling and tell me what's going on!"

Silence.

Freya stared at him, mortified. Ivan rarely shouted at anyone, but she could tell that he was getting tired of her anger and needed answers. She wasn't really hurt by his yelling – because had it been her on his place and she would have already beaten the life out of him – but she was deeply surprised in a bad way.

He seemed so clueless to the way he hurt Anita. It made her stagger in her thoughts and consider that maybe, just maybe, he truly didn't know what was wrong.

"Anita went to your house to speak with you about something that had been troubling her the whole day." she looked at him. That piece of information didn't ring a bell on him. "And she heard Dirk talking to you about something."

No clue yet. "Uh... what about that?"

He had to be kidding, didn't he? Freya glared at Ivan once again, the softened look she held set on fire. "Don't play dumb! She told me she heard the conversation, the part when you talked about her!"

Well, that made... sense? He didn't get why Anita would be upset with that, or at least upset to the point that she wouldn't go out or speak with no one. "I see."

In fact, he remembered the things he said regarding the farmer and blushed.

"Is that all you have to say? Just that?" Freya looked at him in pure disbelief.

"What else do you want me to say? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"YOU ASSHOLE!" swore she now, screaming to the point that Joan and Raul peered from their shops to see what was going on. Antoinette listened from her living room's window. "YOU TOLD DIRK YOU WANTED TO LEAVE ANITA! ISN'T THAT ENOUGH FOR YOU!?"

A hush of wind shut him up, a mixture of feelings rushing through his veins. Freya huffed, breathing in and out after recovering from her livid state and her sudden ourburst. When she tried to read his eyes to observe his reaction, the brunette found something she wasn't expecting.

Confusion.

"Wait, what?" murmured he, interrogants around him. He sounded so genuine that Freya had to believe his feelings. "I never said anything like that, Freya. You must me mistaken."

His now calm demeanor made her calm down as well, sighing. "I am not, Ivan. I found Anita when I was going home yesterday, in front of my door in the midst of a run." explained the girl, now patient and seeing that things couldn't be what they seemed, judging her friends reaction.

After collecting her memories, she carried on. "She was crying, shaking and soaked from the rain. I invited her in and told her to explain what got her so shaken up. She told me that she heard you talking to Dirk about a girl whose name I don't remember, saying you couldn't stop thinking about her and that, because of that-"

"-and that because of that, I was leaving her behind, is that it?" murmured he, hand in his mouth. He seemed nervous and extremely anxious.

She realized his uneasiness and spoke with much more care. Freya was starting to worry more that she was before. "Yeah."

At this, Ivan stood still, looking at the ground while his thoughts wandered to Anita, to his conversation with his brother and back to the current situation. He didn't say anything for a while, uptight and pensive. There was a lot of bad stuff going on in his brain, but if it was bad already, how was it for Anita?

" _Goodness gracious_." muttered he, concerned. "She misunderstood the whole conversation..."

"...Ivan?"

He landed back on Earth with a sour expression. "Freya, Anita misinterpreted that. In fact, she heard it so wrongly that she actually swapped herself with the other person I was talking about during the conversation."

She blinked twice. They started walking as he explained. "Care to elaborate?"

There was a sad smile on his face during the explanation. "You see, when I said I could not stop thinking about someone – I recall I said something along the lines of 'her smile' or 'that kind of smile', am I correct?" she nodded basing herself on what Anita had told her, encouraging him to go on.

"When I said that, I didn't mean the other girl's smile, I meant Anita's smile." he sighed. "And when I said I was going to cut ties with someone, I meant that other girl, not Anita. I would have to be crazy to do that."

They reached the manufacturing windmill. "But... what smile were you talking about? I'm pretty lost."

"We had one of those 'unspoken raws' the other day." stated Ivan, plain. "I think that it was because I stared at the girl way too much when I met her, or because of the way I behaved then, I am not sure." he scratched the back of his head with a distant look.

"She gave me a very bitter smile. I can't give it another adjective other than that one. She seemed sad, but tried to conceal it with a very bitter smile. And I was very worried about her. I did not know the reason behind that face, and it makes me sad to know that I may be the reason."

Freya listened on, slowing down on purpose.

"We've been quite distant lately. She has been truly busy or sad, and he haven't spoken that much to each other." admitted he with a regretful hue to his voice. His glance was far ahead into the distance. "So, when I realized that the Emiko could be the reason why Anita was so down – or just that the other girl had something to do with her mood – I decided to just ignore Emiko to save my frienship with Anita."

Way too deep in his thoughts, he forgot that he shouldn't address the girl's name in a conversation. He didn't care about that at all. All he could think about was how wrong the situation was.

"So you thought that this Emiko girl was affecting your relationship with Anita and decided to cut ties with her?" he nodded." Such deep feelings..." murmured she under her breath.

"It is my guess she must have thought I was in love with Emiko all of a sudden and I was going to leave her." Ivan said to no one in particular. "She should know I would never do that. She got so worked up..."

Freya's ears perked up at Ivan's thoughtful tone. "Didn't you know? That feeling has a name," she smirked. "and it's called jealousy."

Ivan quickly laughed it off. "Nonsense. Why would such a girl like her be jealous of-"

In a second, all of a sudden, it all clicked into place. The realization left him stiff, frozen in the spot and letting Freya walk a few steps ahead. He blushed as a silly grin fought its way to his face. His friend could see it coming, though.

He was too mature to behave like a silly toodler in love. Freya's next words accompained his way to the school along with a permanent smile.

"And said jealousy us a symptom of another feeling, which happens to also have a name." she snickered. "And that's called love."

And he couldn't wait to see her and hug, kiss and breath the life out of her. However, he would have to make things right again before taking such a big step.

First things first, they said.

* * *

After what seemed like the longest time, Anita decided to go for a walk around her near area to breath some fresh air. She made an appetizer just in case she got hungry.

Once she stepped out her house, the world seemed to reset itself again. Spring breeze made its way its way into her lungs, refreshing her soul and lifting her sprits a little bit above the edge of insanity.

It felt good to be sane for a while.

She calmly strolled down the path to the waterfall area, casually glancing at the trees on her way there. Their leaves danced along the rythm of the wind, as if cheering her to go out. It made her feel pretty good to know that mother nature was cheering her on.

When she got to the slope down to Lloyd's house, she found the area completely empty. It was Thursday, so Lloyd should be making his way to the Mayor's house, checking the hour it was. Feeling pretty giddy to meet someone and get some good distraction for a while, she rushed down the slope, past the flowerbeds, and got to town.

She stopped at the sight of Lloyd at the verge of crossing the bridge. Anita felt quite proud of shouting "Lloyd, wait up!" so she could show to herself that she was strong enough to forget about Ivan for a while.

The businessman turned around at the sound of her voice and saw her coming near him. She seemed to be in a rush. "Hello, Anita. How're you?"

She panted a little bit before smiling brightly. It was just too tense and false, even Lloyd could tell. Damn Ivan. "I've seen better days, but I'm fine, I guess. What are you up to?"

He smiled. "I was heading to the Mayor's house. He was going to give me a few items I have been looking for this week." explained he.

She nodded, looking interested on the matter. "Oh, I see. Anyone I know of?"

"I don't think so." she made him stop after crossing the bridge, for she wasn't planing on going into the area. She had just stopped him for a quick chat. "He's been travelling for a few months and I think he's attending this week's Bazaar."

"Is he a traveller of some sort?"

"Actually, he's a florist." added Lloyd. "He's travelling around the region looking for flowers to study. He'd sure hit off with Ivan right away."

Anita gulped at the mention of the teacher. Noticing her unease with Ivan, he changed the subject.

"I'm sure you'd like to meet him. He comes from very far away, a very cozy place similar to Zephyr Town. But instead of a Bazaar, they got Cooking Constests." the raven haired chuckled "Pretty nice, huh?"

She giggled. "I'm sure your friend is an excellent cooker, isn't he?"

Lloyd sighed. "Actually, he's not that skilled. His father and sister in law are excellent chefs, though. His father runs a café in that town of his."

"Wow." she sighed, trying to imagine how would that town look like. It sure would be a heavenly place to live. "It must be nice. Do they raise livestock like we do?"

"His town does. The town right next to them are dedicated to harvesting. I don't remember its name right now, but I do remember that they're experts with what they do. Same goes to my friend's town and their animals." explained he. "Those two towns... they have a rivalry of some sort because of that cooking contest. They apparently lose their minds there."

"You sure know your stuff, Lloyd!" praised the farmer with a bright smile. It was a true one this time, and Lloyd appreciated that. He liked making her happy.

The seller smiled. "I try my best."

After exchanging some words about the next Bazaar, they parted ways with smiles on their faces. Anita aimlessly walked wherever her feet carried her. She found herself walking towards the manufacturing mill, but saw Angelo sitting on the flower patch before crossing the bridge.

The blonde made her way to him. Angelo sat facing the river, so he didn't see her coming until she was practically hovering over him, peering at his work. "Oh, Anita! Hi!"

She waved at him and sat next to him, staring at the streams. They could see the windmill, the hotel, Angelo's house and the path leading to the city – which reminded her of Ivan for a few seconds. She took a look at Angelo's work of art to distract herself from her despairing memories.

He seemed to be painting the river and his house, but with softer and pinker colours. He had added a lighter hue to each color so the painting was brighter. Angelo noticed her interest and smiled.

"Do you like it?" she nodded with a smiling 'hm!' "It looks good, but I find it quite boring, you know? It doesn't transfer any kind of emotion."

That was true. The image was too static and plain to be as expressive as he sure wanted it to be. Judging by his look, he was irritated by this.

Anita and Angelo didn't have much relationship with each other. They'd talk whenever they crossed paths, but they never went further than "Weather's nice" or "The Bazaar was awesome last week". However, they had a common interest in art. Anita's interest was subtler than Angelo's, but it made them be a bit more alike.

"You can't really add much movement or emotion to a landscape painting." stated Anita, still looking at his painting. It was a gorgeous one, but it did lack meaning. And Angelo seemed to be going after that exact trait. _He must have tan out inspiration_ , thought she.

The brown haired boy sighed. "Yeah, I agree with you on that. I don't know what to do about it! I want to paint emotions, make the viewer feel what I felt painting this – but it's no use!"

Anita sympathetically patted his shoulder. She showed him a kind smile. "You'll find a way. I have faith on you. Whatever you paint, it'll sure be a masterpiece."

"Even good enough to blow Antoinette's mind away?"

She laughed. "Yeah, you can manage to do that. You're just too patient, you'll do it."

There was a sudden but comfortable void of words between them, the spring petals riding the waves of wind. Suddenly, his face brightened and he grabbed her wrists.

"I got an idea!" exclaimed he with a beautiful smile. "I'll paint YOU!"

That made her shiver. "Paint _me_? Are you sure?"

The farmer felt pleasantly flattered by this offer, but posing wasn't her forte. She wasn't that expressive or photogenic, and don't even start with beauty, because she didn't think of herself as the cutest one around. Him painting her was blasphemy – he should be painting deities and flowers in full bloom, not her. Apart from that, what feelings would she transfer to the viewer in her wrecked state of mind with Ivan lately?

He laughed happily. "Of course I am! I just need you to set into a confortable pose and focus on something. You could use a flower, or the sky – whatever you like!"

She found herself with nothing else to do but pick a flower and stare at it intently. At first, she wondered how long it'd take him to at least make some rough sketches of her, but then started going off the beaten track in her mind.

Anita looked at the marguerite from different points of view, as if scanning it over. Just like the flower, she felt small compared to the beauty around her. It was a silent ambient to settle in, relax and doze off. There was a slight breeze that mover her tresses – Anita hoped he didn't mind.

The farmer then realized that she had never sat down there to enjoy the view. It was indeed mesmerizing, leaks of light peaking shyly from between the trees. But she was always running around, her mind five steps away from her body, that she never stopped for a second to breath in the minty scent of the season.

Could that be why she was crashing with Ivan so often lately? Maybe she was too focused on her livestock and was getting stressed with all her work. Sitting on the grass with Angelo painting her put her at strange ease. It could be because of the sound of his pencil against the canvas, or the waters of the stream or the mill near her. Nothing mattered because nothing seemed to exist.

And she couldn't be happier.

It was already late noon when he announced he had finished with the sketched and said he could use some rest for his poor hand. Angelo also praised her deep expression – it seems he had actually felt her emotions somehow.

Anita took out her rice omelette, but stopped herself before taking a bite. She split it in halves and gave ona half to her favourite artist. "This is your favourite, isn't it?"

"Oh, you made me so happy with this!" he snatched the slice out of her hands before she could reconsider. "Thank you very much!"

The blonde nodded and, as she slowly finished her part, reached out to pick the canvas out. The sight before her left her speechless. It was her, sitting like she had imagined herself to be, but the rough – but detailed – sketch gave a significant depth. Her face seemed so... distraught. It looked peaceful and neutral at first glance, but she knew better than that. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, her eyes didn't have any twinkle...

Anita looked so sad in that painting... was that the face she had been showing to everyone?

A tear escaped from her eyes before she could stop it. Angelo noticed this and he got near her fastly. She looked at him, expecting some kind of reaction to the horrible emotions he knew she had inside, but got nothing.

Instead, he smiled. But it wasn't a happy one, it was an understanding offer. "I'm here for you."

In that exact moment, she knew he knew. And it wasn't because she had spoken about it, but he had read her like a book and acted on it. He was so simple he was scary.

Their bond wasn't spoken, it was felt and taken to the heart. They didn't know how to call it, but they knew each other though their expressions, their acts and the words they spoke to everyone. They observed each other and simply understood, because no explanation was needed.

And, after one, two, three lifetimes, she allowed herself to break down with someone and cried on Angelo's shoulder. He embraced her back, whispering sweet nothings to her and assuring that everything would be okay. Even if she shook, even if she screamed a bit and banged his chest, he stood there.

Because he understood. And he didn't need words to speak out about that.

She cried all her fears away, the pain of Ivan leaving her soon, her unrequited love, the jealousy she finally admitted feeling, her stress, and the need for a hand. Anita had needed this for a long time. She wailed and yelled for Ivan to get back to her, to explain and hold her like he should have done. She said stupid things as they rolled down her tongue. Anything to free her pain and let blood rush again.

When she finally stopped crying and calmed down to speak properly, Anita apologized for the wet mess on his shirt and wiped her tears away. He smiled tenderly and offered her a hand.

"C'mon. Let me invite you to a decent lunch."

And they both parted together, her attached to his arm and him carrying her doubts, her pain and the supposed loss of Ivan all the way for her.

After all, that's what friends were for. And he would stick to the saying as long as she needed him to.

* * *

 **Some screaming, some tears, some sweetness. You got the whole deal just for the price of dealing with my questionable writing skills. Am I not great? :D**

 **I'm sorry, but I needed to get this chapter out of my veins. I feel like Angelo is truly underrated (he needs a hug and a hot chocolate) and I needed to develop his and Anita's relationship, even if it seems platonic. I don't ship them, but I feel like they make a good couple anyway. I tried to give them some dynamism in this chapter.**

 **And Ivan and Freya UGHH what can I sayyy? I used to dislike Freya a lot, y'know. I have grown to respect her and like her as a character, but I don't ship her with Ivan at all. I find Ivan to be quite sensitive and Freya and him don't go along together that well. Freya kind of served as a plot explainer in this chapter, but in the end it turned out okay, didn't it?**

 ***cricket chippering***

 **Did anyone miss that Tale of Two Towns reference? Because I didn't! When Cam requested something for a friend of his from the bazaar, I thought of Lloyd. I think he referenced him after the request was completed, but I'm not too sure. I love Cam too much 3**

 **I'll edit any mistakes in this chapter and the previous one soon. I'll be healthy soon! Stay tuned~!**


	7. Unnoticed

**This** **hell of a long chapter contains brotp momentum. More like townotp momentum, because holy cakes, everyone loves Anita – and I could't be happier!**

* * *

Freya didn't do free days.

 _Freya never did free days._

But she found herself calling in sick because it had come to a point she decided to take matters into her own hands. After a quite long talk – basically excuses she spluttered to her boss, who was genuinely worried about her, not used to her absence – she hung up and marched straight to the Bazaar.

Again, she never took free days.

Moreover, Freya never lied to workmates. She felt guilty each time she tried.

But this time was completely different.

She hadn't seen Anita after Ivan's incident. Freya knew that the blonde was much probably at home moping around, maybe crawling her way to the barn and back home. Nobody knew about her these days. And while others didn't care enough to look for her or go check on her, others thought she was fine.

Freya, the girls in general – and Ivan, she knew even if he didn't say a thing about it – knew enough. The previous day, they went to pay a visit, talk and pry some information about her current situation. They didn't even get a word out of her, mainly because she didn't even answer the door.

Antoinette had wanted – and tried – to barge in like she had the right. But Sherry, knowing best, gently pushed her friend aside and knocked in. Anita wouldn't find it so hilarious to see a broken door at her doorstep. Yeah, crazy. Maybe old Anita wouldn't have minded much.

But new, emo and dark Anita wouldn't laugh at all. She could even smack Antoinette into common sense and make her fix the door.

That was the severity of the situation.

Daisy was worried sick. Even if Sherry told her not to fret and Antoinette had calmed down enough to bring some positivity to the situation, the blonde never stopped stuttering. She mentioned that she missed Anita's cherry cake and seeing her at the hotel.

Of course, she wasn't the only one who missed the farmer. Everyone did. But the only one who knew about the whole cake was Freya. With a thoughtful glance at her barn, she knocked once again. Her livestock was out, why wouldn't she open the door? Maybe she wasn't hearing them?

The redhead and her best friend the bluenette decided to go home after some tries. Daisy made her way home as well, but Freya waited for some more time. She eventually gave up too, and went for a walk.

So there she was now, expecting Anita to be at the Bazaar and pleading to some unknown deity to give her some luck. A long walk later, she was in the middle of a busy crowd.

For starters, Freya approached some stands near the entrance to take the best of her time. There were some nice meals made by Claire and interesting ingredients sold by one of Raul's brothers. After buying some curry bread at Claire's stand and getting it wrapped in yellow paper – just for a nice glittery touch – she approached her friend's stand.

Anita was talking to a kid who seemed to want one of her delicious puddings. The blonde gave it to him with a smile and the little boy flew away with some jump in his step. Freya smiled at her and the purple-eyed dirl noticed her presence.

"Good morning, Freya!" once they were facing each other, Freya noticed dark rings under Anita's eyes. Apart from that, her eyes were half-lid and she was strugging to smile. "What can I do for you?"

The girl blinked. For the first time, she glanced at her friend's items. She was selling pudding, tea, two necklaces, eggs, milk and high-quality wool in a yarn. She pointed at the yarn and purchased two balls.

She didn't know what she could do with that. It could be used for some clothing fixes.

"Thank yo~ou!" Anita yawned in mid sentence. "Do you need anything else?"

The brunette crossed her arms. How could her friend be working if she was so tired? "It'd be nice if you got some sleep." glare. "Those bags under your eyes look pretty nasty."

Sheepish, the other laughed lowly. "You could say that. It was a pretty restless night."

"Then why don't-"

Her loud yawn – which she politely covered with both hands – interrupted her.

Freya coughed. "Why don't you go home and rest a bit? You could use some months of hibernation."

The blonde didn't answer. She was leaning – more like supporting herself – on the table. Her eyes were... glazed?

What the?

"Anita?"

No answer.

The businesswoman snapped her fingers in front of her muted friend. "Anita, what's wrong?"

And then,

 _swoon_.

The blonde sighed softly, titled and collapsed when her knees buckled under her. She landed on her side under the alarmed sight of some customers and, most importantly, Freya.

And even more important, a horrized Ivan who had just arrived in time to see the whole scene unfold. He cursed under his breath – out of stress and fear – muted the worried gasps of the crowd and jumped the table to approach Freya, who held Anita on her lap. His temple started sweating.

"Oh my-"

Freya snapped her eyes at him and gaped. "Ivan, we need help! Anita has just-!"

"Fainted- she fainted, I know!" exclaimed Ivan, trying to calm down and not freak out. Now he _did_ have reasons to be worried about Anita! He had bouncing around his house, trying to think positive and imagine she was fine on her own.

God, damn it. How could he be such a fool! She had been heartbroken and working her ass off, that wasn't healthy! If only he had swallowed his pride/fear/nonsense doubts, she would be wide awake and running.

He picked his love up,– who was very _very_ light on his arms and ever so weak – carried her bridal-style through the Bazaar and ran all the way to Claire's stand. The good woman saw them coming and rushed to his side. "What happened!? She's totally out if it!"

His face was frantic, desperate and anxious. It was easy to see he didn't know what was wrong either, but needed help right now. "I don't know, but we need your help, and fast!"

Kevin's mother slammed the 'CLOSED' sign on her stand's table and gathered some of her things. It was good to see she was ready for these kinds of emergencies, given she was the best doctor in town and people could give up consciousness due to the soaring heat or simple exhaustion.

But it didn't seem like a case of heat attack or simple tiredness. It looked like something worse. And Claire knew it with a first glance at the farmer, who didn't move an inch.

"We must hurry!" yelled Claire taking Anita in her arms. It looks like she also noticed Anita's light weight, because she frowned and looked at Ivan. "Quick! Get Nellie and the Mayor and go to the farm!"

Her tone was so panicked and uneven it wasn't assuring to the poor teacher. His knowledge in human health wasn't vast – pretty much the opposite. So Ivan was quite in the dark now and terrified. "Do you know what could be wrong with her?"

Claire tightened her grip on the girl, protective and trying to catch her breath. She seemed scared, too. "I have no idea, Ivan. But, to be plain honest, this doesn't look good at all."

Well, just the fact that Anita basically collapsed was self-explainatory. Of course this wasn't good.

Freya, who had gathered her things in a bag, spoke up when she got to the pair. "We must find out. I picked her things up and closed her stand." she then glanced at Ivan. "Go get the others. We'll go to the farm and treat Anita there!"

Both nodded in understandment and both girls rushed to get Anita to the farm. He was struggling to keep his temper in check and stop for a moment to collect himself. But Anita needed help, and that was his first priority.

The caramel-haired boy ran to Nellie's stand and passed by Lloyd in his path. The blackhaired had seen the ruckus and closed his stand after seeing Anita had passed out. He ran by his friend.

"Ivan, what happened?"

Nellie saw them coming and frowned, seeing both boys with distressed expressions. "I will explain later! We need help right now!"

* * *

"This isn't good at all."

"Ivan-"

"This is not good."

"Hey, I-"

"She's unconscious..."

"Ivan, can you please-"

"... what if she doesn't-"

"IVAN!"

The teacher stopped pacing around and looked at his distressed friends. Freya spoke up again. "Will you please calm down? Your mumbling won't do anything good to the situation."

He slumped – more like threw himself – on the ground of Anita's orchard and sighed, playing with the hems of his jacket. Dirk approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, kindness radiating out of his also afraid eyes.

"She's strong– she's _hella_ strong, Ivan." he said, trying not to only give him some positivity, but also to himself. "She'll wake up soon. I'm sure it's just an eventual break down."

 _"As if she hadn't had enough with me lately, life wants even more from her."_ Ivan thought, sullenly. _"Why?"_

"Yeah, Anita's been putting way too much on herself. It's only a matter of time she wakes up." tried Angelo. He was holding Daisy's hand and side-hugging Antoinette with his right arm.

The three were uncharacteristically uptight. It only unnerved Ivan even more. The only one who seemed relatively calm was Freya, who sat on some boxes near her doorstep.

"Well, I can't seem to figure out the reason for her distress." Dirk's brother glared at her, knowing her intentions. "I wonder why..."

Sherry, fully conscient of Anita's situation with Ivan and reading Freya's tone, glared at her as well with a hiss. " _Freya_!"

" _What_?" she spat back, clearly in a bad mood because of whatever that could be going on inside Anita's house. "I can't be the only one to be incredibly stiff about this!"

Silence invaded the area, only the hush of the wind accompained the muffled voices inside Anita's farmhouse.

"I have a very bad feeling about this." Lloyd said. Kevin sat down by Dirk's side, who ruffled his hair in an attempt of cheering him up. "That which is keeping Anita in such predicament isn't normal. She has never collapsed in two years of living here. Why now?"

"She's been working hard lately." muttered Cindy innocently and clearly down because of her friend's – or idol's – comatose state. "I've seen at her weakest this month."

Kevin looked up and sighed. Nobody had seen him this tired, _ever_. Not even close to being actually _tired_. "I could've helped if she had asked me. All those mushy stuff she did at midnight..." the kid glanced at Ivan.

"Yes." he babbled. "That must be a reason, too."

But he was lying to himself on that. An everyone knew.

Sherry glanced at the sky. It was getting awfully cloudy up there. And it was still early noon. It seemed like it would get pretty bad in the evening. "The weather doesn't look too happy, either."

Everyone followed her gaze.

And Antoinette chuckled. "Not a very good prediction."

"No, it doesn't seem like it." agreed Dirk, not catching her glance at him. "I heard it'd rain in the weathercast. And that it could become a fierce storm later on."

Freya sighed, eyes cast down. "Poor thing. Spending her whole afternoon alone during a thunderstorm."

"She'll most probably be K.O." said Angelo. "She won't even notice it."

"That's the thing!" exclaimed the workaholic. There was exhasperation in her eyes. "She'll be out of it for the rest of the night. What if she wakes up and finds herself alone?"

That alarmed Ivan in a minor degree, but just picturing her alone, kind of ill and scared of the noises and wind outside made his blood run cold. Not like he was the bravest one in the hood, but he had Dirk for cuddles. Who did she have?

No one would cuddle with her!

He paled lightly and stood up, wanting to pace his anxiety of once again. But Dirk tugged at his sleeve and pushed him back down.

"She wouldn't want to you to fret around like that, would she?"

Now, that was true. But he would panic anyway.

Daisy heard steps near the door and got up, expecting Claire or Nellie to pop up at any moment. A few seconds later, Kevin's mother appeared and closed the door once again behind her, preventing anyone from coming in. She looked worn out.

"Well, good afternoon." she greeted, sighing. "That sure took a lot of time."

Everybody stood up and looked at her, hopeful and worried about their dear blonde farmer.

Claire went down the sane road and spoke to them bluntly.

"She's knocked out, and will remain like that for the rest of the day. She might wake up tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning." explained the part-time doctor, part-time spot of hopes and responsability for Ivan's sanity. "We're not sure what's wrong with her. She's not showing signs of weariness or any direct damage of any sort."

"You mean," Lloyd frowned. "like, poisoning or someone snapping her neck?"

Claire looked at him, shocked due to his statements. "Yeah, something like that... I guess." she breathed out. "The thing is, we're not sure what could have cause this. In fact, we could arrive to terms of thinking it's a cancer, or thinking it's simply weak health. The problem streeches far wide, you see."

She could see that mentioning the c word to a crowd of people at the edge of a nervous breakdown wasn't the smartest idea, given them all seemed to tune out at the mention of it.

However, she wasn't feeling soft enough to even discard the possibility – she would be lying to them. "It doesn't need to be that bad, though. We'll need a few more days to look after her and follow her health status."

Dirk snapped out of his troubled daze. "Don't you know anything else?"

Claire sighed. "Well, she has a slightly high temperature, if that suits you. Nothing to be alarmed of anyway." Ivan's eyes were still covered with worry. It was even saddening her to see him so earnestly concerned.

"It's very probably caused by the temperature of the bazaar and the fact that she was wearing warm clothes today. Wearing a turtle neck jersey isn't a good idea during summer!"

Freya had actually noticed the jersey, but it didn't cause such a big impression on her. Tat was because, for starters, she was worrying about other things right then. Apart from that, Anita was wearing her other normal clothes – the pink jacket, her trademark hat and her worn out leggings – so it didn't really stand out that much.

"How weird of her!" spoke Cindy, who had hurried to Claire's side the moment she came out. "She's pretty sensitive to heat, why would she?"

It also stung Ivan a little bit, suspicious and kind of weirded out. His head was just too heavy in thoughts to keep in its place for much longer – it was stating to make him cringe to think about her.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked, or pleaded he.

Claire shook her head in response. Ah, teenagers in love. "I'm afraid not, Ivan. All we can do is sit and wait patiently." everyone's shoulders fell a little. "As soon as Nellie finished a few last tests, we'll go home. We can't do more for the moment."

Everyone nodded, understanding the situation. But Ivan and Dirk weren't having none of that.

So, as soon as the sun had set and rain had started pouring down the sky in a promise of a stormm, they made their way to Anita's house with great hurry. As soon as they got there, they went inside and hung their jackets.

Dirk had gone with his brother to check on Anita, and would go home before the storm started. His brother, on the other hand, had other plans.

The youngest one in the house put his hat to rest. He looked through the window. "Woah, man. It's _tempesting_ out there!"

But Ivan didn't answer. He had pulled a stool from Anita's table and took a seat by her, distraught in her quiet and still body. His face held the same expression as back in their parents' funeral. And Dirk realized that with a quick glance in his direction.

Wet, fat trails of tears cascaded down his cheeks. But Ivan wasn't sobbing or trembling. It was more like a quiet fall in order not to worry his brother. He knew he had noticed, though.

"Look at her, Dirk." the waiter obliged and grimaced at her. She was way too calm and frail to his liking.

That was when he wondered: if it was being hard for him to see his friend in such critical conditions, what kind of hell was it being for Ivan, who was seeing the love of his life probably – he hoped not – dying in front of him?

Dirk could only pat his brother's back. "I told you. She's strong and will get through this, Ivan."

"But... what if she..."

Thunder.

"What if... what if she doesn't?".

The brunette put his goosebumps to rest. They had fell down his spine at Ivan's dead tone. "Ivan..."

That was when a soft shake made tears fall faster and bigger. But he concealed them, for Dirk didn't have to see those and should _never_ see them falling down his up-to-look figure.

"I think I should go home. You need some time with her alone, and I'm no one to interrupt that." his useless attendance was eased by Ivan's thankful eyes, even if Dirk could see those were shaking weak.

"Yes, you should. This-" he wiped a tear away with a sad smile. "The storm is only going to get worse. And I don't want you to catch a nasty cold, either."

 _Either_.

As if Anita was only going through a simple fever. Lies, lies, lies.

"Yeah, I'll go home now." he put his hat on and approached Anita to caress her forehead. Then he gulped, seeing the storm before him. "See you soon, brother. Sleep well."

Ivan nodded and watched his dear sibbling leave his side into the storm.

The teacher decided that if he was going to watch over her, he should as well have dinner. He got up and removed his tie and vest, left them hung by his jacket and marched into her kitchen. It was a very small stance with some charm to it.

And also a very nice pan and a cute pot! He would sure cook something delicious with that! Ivan went into the storage room and brought some herb oil, herb butter and flour. He would make something up with those treats she had in there.

It turns out she had a very thick book full of homemade recipes and very nice notes, such as, literal extracts:

 _"This is Joan's favourite. Please don't make unless you're feeling confident enough. She'll sure roast you and cook it better than you if you try!"_

 _"omg I'm sure Freya would love this"_ arrow to spinach _"and this!"_ arrow to eggs and other stuff.

There was a very quick recipe for herb spaguetti down the page for main dishes. Some were marked with stars and hearts, others with crosses and noes all over them.

It took him a full hour to figure out the right proportions and pull up something good enough that, at least, didn't stink or emit smoke. It was a delicious dinner in the end, and couldn't be more thankful for Anita's master book. She could have a run of money for that.

As he digested the food, cheek on hand and eyes far off into the distance of the wall, he turned to look at his sleeping beauty. Ivan sighed and went to her once again. But he remembered the dish on the table and took it to the sink so he could clean it.

He heard a noise that didn't belong to the rain. He deemed it to be from the animals at the barn, but then, a cough.

And, after that, another one.

He rushed to her side and found her in a fit of coughs, cheeks all rosy but her temperature lower than usual. She saw him by her and smiled. Anita's eyes were kind of glazed.

"O-Oh..." her voice was weak and almost inaudible. "Hey there... Ivan? How... how nice..."

He thanked the deities in the storm for bringing her back to him. He couldn't be more relieved to see her back with him. At least, body-wise. Her mind was looking pretty hazed at the moment.

He sat on the bed and craddled her like a baby, trying to transfer some of his body heat. She was starting to get cold and he didn't like that.

She buried her face on his shirt. That made him smile. "It's good to see you again."

Her voice, even if raspy and low, sounded like bells after so long. "I-I... am glad to see" cough, "to see you happy..."

Ivan lay his head on hers and sighed contently. He should be hurrying to fetch Claire and bring ol' healthy Anita back. However, he would take his time – if he ever got away from her again, that is – and take the best out of what could be a short time together.

"You had me worried." he confessed bitterly. "I'm glad to see you awake, but please don't press yourself so hard. I'd like to keep on being sane, you know."

She giggled. "I... I am sorry but... I am not even working that much..."

God, she must be swimming in medicine and drugs if she could speak to him so calmly – and so in-character – after that big deal they were supposedly going through.

Once again, he would take his sweet time to land in earth again. This was a rare ocassion these days.

"Yes, sure, I'll believe you." he wouldn't, of course he wouldn't. "I missed you."

She snuggled even deeper. How much he wished she wasn't dazed so it was a real situation with real feelings coming from her. "I did... too!" even though her voice was very rough, it still held sweetness in it.

"I wish we were talking under different situations, though." he sighed, but still held her like there was no tomorrow.

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry I never visited." I wasn't really apologizing for that. It was a global apology for breaking her heart without knowing, thinking that giving her space would be good for both, for not catching her feelings...

Goodness gracious, was he really doing everything wrong? Or even worse, had he even done anything correctly!?

"I'm not a jerk." he muttered remembering Freya's lecture a few days ago and her sour way of blaming him of her situation – which was very likely unintentional, seeing how shaken up everyone was and how anything said there could have been said out of distress. "But I deserve all of this."

Yeah, her in drugs, all over him in a sweet mess was enough punishment.

"You... you did make, make me cry?" she said, as if taking back each word she said on the run. It had just fallen out of her mouth. It made him cringe. Even in her dizzy state she was pure venom. This time, sweet venom. "But... I forgive you..."

She was so tired and medicated – with needles, he supposed – it was hard for him not to break down. He had caused all of this. She had suffered because of him. And it made Ivan wonder if he was enough for such a great girl like him. Maybe... maybe she didn't love him, opposite to what he had thought a few days ago? It seemed more like a theory or inspiration rather than a statement.

Her next words corrected him.

"Because I... 'cause I love you..."

It didn't come as much of a surprise seeing how things had turned out. He, selfishly, wouldn't have had it any other way. He hated himself for that.

"You _really_ should not love someone like me."

"And I'll always... always forgive you." she murmured, in a very heartfelt way that made his heart break and melt at the same time.

He deserved that, too.

"You should not forgive me so easily."

She blinked at him. Anita gaped, disbelievingly. "But... if I can't love you, if you don't love me..."

Ivan wanted her to take that back. He wanted her to know he loved her – so, so much – but, on the other hand, didn't deserve her. Yet, he doubted she's ever understand given her drowsy condition.

"If I can't love you..." she actually _sniffled_. "Then... who should I love, Ivan...?"

Anita broke Ivan with that. He was left speechless. Deep down in his selfish feelings, he never thought about her leaving her until these days. Still, he thought about it very lightly, like a problem that stood too far away for him to understand. But having it so near it could kill you tasted different– felt different.

It felt horribly sour.

Because he actually took her for granted all this time.

And it was so, so selfish for him to do that. He always thought she'd be there no matter what he dragged her through – or more like he never thought about her being hurt by him, never ever considered that idea. It couldn't be true, could it?

Did that mean... did that mean he didn't care enough about her? Or did he care enough about her for him to allow himself to love her?

He had been hurting her all this time. He might have even done it before and never noticed. His breath got stuck in this throat: could it be she had been through this, alone, because of him? Did he really deserve her love?

Did he even deserve to be human?

He felt horrible. No. He felt _sick_.

He was sick and also very, very selfish. As much as he hated to admit it sometimes, he needed her. Ivan wouldn't be Ivan without some Anita by his side. She was just too important, but the fact that she was important didn't automatically mean he cared enough.

With that, it got even worse.

He tightened his grasp around her frail frame, musing about her presence and trying to actually drown in her scent, now feeling like she would fly away at any moment. His heart hadn't been so afraid before. He himself was shaking, breaking at the thought of her being gone.

Ivan was almost choking her, but he was too upset and she was too tired to care.

"No." he deadpanned. "You shouldn't love anybody else than me."

"Does that mean... I can... lo-ve you, then...?"

He hugged her even tighter, if that was possible. "Yes." he replied, unmistakengly hard, sincere and serious. "And I will always..."

No, it wasn't the right way to say it. If he was confessing, he'd do it appropriately. It wasn't the time for that. "...Hm...?"

Oh no, he was losing her. Her voice was a mere whispee by now and was lifting her touch on him. He grasped her hand hurriedly.

Her head stopped cuddling,

"Ani-"

...breath in, breath out. She was sound sleep now. He trailed off and observed her serene, sleeping expression. The way her nose perked, or how her chest rose with each breath and her lips separated, or maybe the sound of some sounds she made-

He quickly tucked her in before his mind was allowed to wade into disturbing stuff. Watching ladies sleep wasn't normal at all. As he was standing up, a shaky hand sat him again.

His goal had been to reach for the rug and try to cuddle with the wooden floor. Ivan would have time then to think about their relationship – or whatever stage they were on – and calculate his next move. Sleeping on the ground would have been much better.

Instead, she came in with trembling voice.

"Don't... don't leave..." she mumbled. He figured it was much probably an unconscious move, but considered it to be done with her being fully-aware. "don't... please?"

He was a sucker wrapped around her finger. So he complied and lay by her, both comfortably covered by the thick, thick – god those were truly big how could she feel cold? – blankets on their hugging forms.

She listened to his beating heart and Ivan played with her loose strands of golden hair. Like that, they fell asleep in the arms of the other.

* * *

 **TA-DA, amigos! This is what I call emotion depth, *viking screetch* YAAAS!**

 **Mama was sick, but mama makes up for it and writes a long chapter with a surprising new title! Playing with Ivan's feelings towards Anita is quite fun, more pleasing than fun, really. We'll see how this turns out!**

 **I've noticed how much off-track this is going from the story – like, Grand Bazaar's actual plot and heart events. Well, I'm afraid I won't stick much to the plot, since that would be pretty much plot-telling. Instead, I'll be doing some plot-twisting! It's way more pleasing for me, since, contrary to Tale of Two Towns, it lacks emotions between characters.**

 **So, if the game doesn't have feelings for characters, mama will give them feelings! This ain't canon ville, so I'll be trying this toying for a while. I'll try to patch things with the actual game at some points, though, just so it remains a little bit loyal to the plot at some standards.**

 **By the way,** _ **to tempest**_ **should definitely be a proper word in the dictionary. It totally exists now because I invented it, ITS CANON HERE.**

 **Any general mistake will be corrected later. S** **ee you soon!**


	8. Unnerving

**In this chapter you'll see Ivan being a dork and Anita being a fork to the knee. Have fun!**

* * *

First things first, she was feeling extremely sore that morning – or whatever hour it was.

Second, she was extremely comfortable in that position. Moreover, something soft and breathy that smelt nice was wrapped around her like a vine around a pillar. A floral scent – like roses, mint and forests crashing in her brain in a sweet mix – surrounded her and drew her in and even nearer to the boy.

Anita was just too comfortable. She didn't want to get up ever again, not when there was a soft cuddler right by her.

She scratched her hair against the side of his neck and sighed contently with a sleepy smile on her face. The effects of Nellie's medicaments wouldn't wear off until early noon or so.

But she was wrong.

Her eyes snapped open. The first thing Anita realized was the green vest and purple jacket hanging on the rack. It made her suspicious, but it wasn't until she registered the warmth in the pit of her stomach – that meant someone very dear to her was near, very near – and the familiarity of the scent that she got suspicious. Anita held her breath.

And, ever so slowly, she rose her glance from his chest to his angelic face. Her skin jumped from its place, seeing Ivan cuddled by her and sleeping as if it was his house. She gritted her teeth and got scared, utterly shocked and dizzy.

What the _hell_ is he doing here!?

Anita removed herself from his loving grip – regretfully, of course – and breathed very heavily, sitting on the bed and glaring at Ivan. As if the daggers she shoot him would wake him up.

If their situation was different and she wasn't brokenhearted because of him, a mess of feelings, she would shrug and snug with him in the bed, spend a few hours in his arms with is charm all over her. However, it was different now. She didn't comprehend why he would be there in the first place, what business did he have with her he couldn't have sorted out earlier?

So, that's the sight Ivan woke up to that morning: a flushed Anita sitting with an angry/confused glare at his forehead and the blankets pushed to her neck. Her breath was odd and quick, but when he opened his eyes, it stopped.

She didn't look confused anymore: she seemed livid at this point.

And now that he thought about it, him in her bed, with his shirt half buttoned – because of the heat – and his hair all messy and cheeks flushed as well, his business there could be completely taken out of context, given how distant they were from each other lately.

In fact, instead of a naïve visitor, he looked more like a sexual offender.

Anita slowly grabbed her pillow.

 _"Oh sh-"_

Then wacked him dead on the head, expelling him out the bed and sent him flying to the table, where he made a summersault and landed ungracefully behind it. Ivan peered from the other side and hurried to duck again when she glared to threaten him to hit him again.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" screamed Anita. This is, kids, why you don't do drugs. Her brain must be suffering the after-effects of the medicine.

He hurried to button his shirt and stand up. Ivan covered himself just in case she decided to throw the lamp to him. "Anita, calm down! I came for a visit last night and-"

"Visit?" he nodded, still stiff because of the nasty hit. "Then why were you in my bed, with _me_?"

Surely she didn't remember. Drugs had hit pretty hard on her, made her amnesic and moody. He couldn't blame her, though. This was the punishment he had to pay and he would gladly go through it to get her back. This was his oportunity to start again.

"You- I-" he decided to tell her a white lie, just so she didn't freak out. In her state, Anita would sure overload with wrong thoughts. "I was watching over you and fell asleep, I didn't do anything to you!"

Anita gripped the pillow tighter. He flinched. "How can I trust you after everything that has happened?"

"YOU THINK I WOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU?"

"I don't know you anymore!" yelled she. "Didn't you wanna leave me? Then-"

He didn't want to leave her. Not ever again. But it turns out if he didn't leave, she would glady walk him out and forbid him of getting near her.

Anita swallowed. He knew she didn't mean any of what she was saying, but he couldn't help but feel even worse each time he looked at her and listened to the woman of his dreams. "Anita-"

The messed up blonde didn't want to hear his explanations. "Then leave! Get out, now!"

Ivan sighed and stood up recluntantly took his leave. He didn't even bother to take his clothes. All he did was look back to her, with a foot outside and the other still lingering to stay. His heart jumped out of his chest.

She was shaking and crying, looking at him with conflicted emotions, as if she was struggling to clear the fogg that clouded her reason and try to be gentler, not to speak out of heartbreak and a bad – but comfortable – night digesting paramedics.

"I'm sorry..." he murmured. With that, he made his way out of the door. Even after promising he would never leave her alone again, there he was: walking far away from her.

 _"I'm so sorry..."_

* * *

"He's not home then?"

"Nope. He's gone to work and won't come back until evening." Dirk glanced at her present and back at her. "Why?"

Anita sighed. "I was hoping to see him and apologize. I was strongly medicated this morning and kind of..." she trailed off, afraid of sounding like a maniac. "I kind of kicked him out of my house after drowning an insane amount of paramedics."

"Are you feeling okay now?"

Dirk stepped away from the door to let her in. He then walked to the kitchen as she closed the door behind her with a soft click. "Yeah. The after effects have worn out by now." but, even after the good news, she sighed again. "Claire and Nellie haven't found out why I fainted, though."

He leant on against the table. Anita placed the herb perfume on the wooden surface. "Don't you know yourself? You have been working way too hard lately."

Anita pinched the bridge of her nose. "I have no idea. This isn't the first time this has happened."

"What?"

"I remember fainting on my underground orchard last Wednesday." the confession entered hard in Dirk's shocked brain. "I woke up a few hours later. My cat had started to munch my harvests." bitter laugh. "Maybe it was a sixth sense which woke me up."

"Geez. You sure need some medical attention, Anita." stated the waiter, frowning. "Did the medication do any good?"

"It's managing to keep me awake for longer. I'm not really sure if it's gonna be useful or not, but Nellie knows what she's doing." Anita smiled. "She wouldn't risk my health."

Dirk laughed. "I don't think she would."

But, judging Anita's distant eyes and the way her orbs were cast down, he could tell something was burdening her. The way she had come here, all sad and guilty, with a present for Ivan gave her away. Even her breaths were awfully long, like soft sighs of intranquility.

"I'm mostly upset because of Ivan, you know."

Of course.

He looked at her, silently questioning.

"I mean... my health worries me, of course. But I was such a brat to him." the blondie sounded regretful. "After all that we've been through... He had the detail of watching over me. And I kicked him out..."

Dirk snickered. Anita, on the other hand, didn't find it so hilarious.

"What's so funny?"

"You guys are amusing." stated Dirk with a thick voice. He had a funny glint in his glance. Anita blushed slightly. "You've screwed each other up so badly in the span of a few days, not much more than a week."

"Are you _insulting_ me?"

"No, no!" he shook his arms to enhance his statement. "What I mean is that I understand Ivan's side of the story, but I'm not sure I know yours."

Anita padded to the living room and sank to the cushion. She patted her side and Dirk sat by her, arm behind the sofa. "It's a mixture of jealousy, stress, confusion and unexplicable anger."

Well, she could say that her current emotional state was angry with everything around her – she had even thrown a tantrum over a broken egg, dissolved into tears afterwards and then, slumber. She was quite unestable, but it was sure caused by her issue with Ivan and her workaholic antics.

Or maybe she was enchanted by some naughty witch? She couldn't tell. Whatever was going inside of her, it wasn't normal. Paramedics had a lot do to with that, she bet.

"I can see that." he said. "But you know, all that Ivan has done... he didn't do it in purpose." Anita looked at him. There was a mixture of sarcasm and _you don't know what you're saying_. "He's feeling awful about it. He..."

It was her time to pose a silent interrogant.

"He really loves you, y'know."

That shut her up, but her heart erased such idiotic statement from him and decided to conceal her reaction with the best face she could pull.

Anita looked at him in pure disbelief. "I wish I could believe that." she sighed and didn't let Dirk have a say on it. "He knows that I love him. I always knew be knew but never said anything to me about it."

Dirk rose an eyebrow. "That's the first time I have ever heard about him playing oblivious. He's not like that, y'know."

 _"There we go again."_ her brain bore into the subject. "Then, why does he act so clueless?"

"Maybe because he _is_ clueless."

"He never acts so... distracted about things."

Dirk shrugged. "You're his first."

But Dirk knew more than her giving the topic up with such simple arguements. He had known her for so long to expect so lowly from her. Anita was just too headstong for that to happen. Besides, he knew he could reason with her if he used the right cards.

But ever since when did Ivan actually take a hint? That was new.

"He's shy and... well, has a complicated background."

She knew about their parents', about the typhoon and about their loss. It had been one stormy day she found out from a very tired Ivan, who wouldn't stop shaking in panic. Anita hadn't really stopped to join the dots with his actual way of behaving. "It was hard for him, wasn't it?"

Dirk stood up and caressed the spines of some books. His eyes were looking at the hard covers, but his mind was far away. The brunette spoke earnestly, losing his spark of a few seconds. "You two talked about it, didn't you?"

"We did." she said, nochalantly. "It touched me to see him open up to me."

"He had to raise me on his own..."

Dirk trailed off. He spoke again after some moments. "He had no reference but these books. Ivan taught me everything I know. I am who I am," he smiled, proud of his brother. "because of him."

Anita smiled wholeheartedly for the first time after a long time of emotional soreness. "He's your hero, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Kind of like Cindy to Lauren. And I'm grateful for all the mess he pulled through to raise me."

In spite of his cheery memories, he held a remorseful stand. Anita got up to stand by him, eyeing the books. Seeing his pained expression, only one sentence could come to her mind. "Do you think he was... wounded?"

She heard him inhale a shaky breath from the corner of her eyes. Just as Freya never did free-daying or Angelo never stopped painting, Dirk never stopped smiling for others, which was amazing, really. Seeing him so broken devasted her beyond anybody's knowledge.

"More than that." stated Dirk, sighing. He was about to cry, but got a hold of himself. "He's got a big scar. He's not crying around over my parents, he's moved on." a silly tear landed on the floor. "But... losing them opened a hole, a big one."

"What do you mean by that?"

The brunette turned and eyed her worried look. He looked even angry for a moment, as if she should know that. Well, factually, she had guessed at some point – it was common sense to think they'd be hurt and changed somehow. But again, she never had stopped to analyze those scars.

Dirk took her hands, looking down. Anita could tell it was hurting him to spill the beans, but it was a cleansing process. He would feel better afterwards. "He changed. A lot. He used to be very light-hearted and kind. Now, even if he's still kind, he's become... possesive? Yeah, that's the word: possesive."

She rose an eyebrow. "Possesive?"

The green-eyed boy furrowed his eyebrows, remembering his brother and everything that had come with him: all so bright, yet too dark sometimes.

"I was the only thing he had. He loves me like his son, like a friend, and knows I am his brother. I am closer to him than anyone else." his grip got stronger with each word he said. "When Freya came around, it lessened. And when you came around, it got even better."

The now sheepish farmer felt infinitely flattered with that. Knowing she had helped a troubled man with his feelings gave her a sense of pride. In fact, it seemed to shift the air into something much better.

"But..." like countless times that day, she was wrong.

"Now that you two are mad, I can see him losing it." Dirk looked at her dead in the eye, reading her soul. Yes, indeed, her eyes held the same pain as Ivan's. "Ivan's got moodier and peachy. I miss the old, softy Ivan who got tight-fisted in the right times. I have sometimes heard him waking up in the dead of the night for a cup of wine."

"That's a weird habit."

"Yeah." he frowned. "The same one he got after our parents passed away."

She paled considerably. The fact that he picked the habit from a traumatic experience, only to use it now spelled danger all over.

"Look, I understand you both are at bad terms now, or more like you are at bad terms with him." he rose their hands and kissed her knuckles in a silent oath of respect, because his brother's sanity depended on her. "Ivan is Ivan because of his past, and you're the only one who can change that. I don't want to see him breaking down because he's lost in what to do about your situation."

That was... new, different, chaotic and erosive. A deep part of her mind started burning with a new feeling of regret and responsability. Because..m had she really done that? Had she dragged him down to that point?

Anita wanted to cry. She had always been thinking about her feelings, her heart and herself. The blonde had never felt so selfish in her whole life.

She remembered crying loudly, wailing because he was the one who had killed her. She never saw him as a love interest anymore, but he was now the villain, her dearest enemy. Ironically, she had never wanted that to happen, but made it occur anyway.

God, she was so stupid, and selfish, and heartless-

"I've never seen him so desperate. And just seeing where this comes from..." Dirk sighed unpatiently. "I'm sorry to tell you I find it overrated. Seeing Ivan so brokenhearted over a matter of jealousy, brokenhearted because you are brokenhearted... A few days ago, he actually drank himself to sleep."

Her heart fell through her stomach, to the ground, and broke into pieces. "Oh... Oh my God..."

"You have damaged each other, and Ivan has already cried too many tears. You have too, but I'd like to see you forgiving him. You both have to apologize for things and make up for lost time." Anita glanced at him. "Do you think you can talk it out and, at least, be at good terms again?"

Anita nodded softly, as if doubting but feeling very eager to fix things.

She had never considered herself to be a bad person. Yet, seeing how many people she had damaged beyond repair made her think otherwise. It spread through her like an illness, just a sudden notion of how far things had gone because of her stupid doubts and jealousy.

It was burning her. She wanted to be knocked out again to sleep until justice considered it enough.

Anita had never had the urge to throw herself off a cliff. This was the first time for her to feel miserable because of her wrong actions

Dirk interrumpted her unstoppable trail of guilt. "And you haven't seen how he peed his pants when you fainted. He freaked out. And he stayed by you all evening in case you woke up." and she had kicked him out. "He was so worried... I had never seen so worried about anyone before, other than me or Freya. But it was different with you."

"You're terribly special to him, Anita."

She had damaged him far too much, was struggling to conceal her tears. She shook and threw herself to Dirk's arms, who patted her back and whispered some words for her to calm down. He heard her apologize for a few minutes before pulling away.

To be honest, he was trying to be hard on her. Anita was his friend, but Ivan was his brother and that came first. He wouldn't rest until he was happy, whether it was by her side or not. Still, he also admitted that she wasn't the bad one of the film – Ivan had also done things wrong and would have to own up to that.

She sighed. "I feel horrible right now." but should have felt worse before.

"He's feeling miserable, too. It's up to you to fix each other." Dirk smiled encouragely. "I know you'll work it out. It's your motto, after all. It will be hard, but you will do it."

The blonde wiped some tears away. "You think?"

He caressed her cheek tendely, touching her damp flesh. "Sure. As long as you are honest with him and _viceversa_ , it'll be forgotten." smile, smile, blink and a pat. "Just stay cool and don't snap at any explanations he gives. I can see you coming."

"Yeah," she shook herself out of his grasp. "it wouldn't be surprising.

There was some sun outside. The storm had passed long time ago, just like Anita's mood. She felt up for some good lunch. Dirk read her mind and tugged her arm. "Let me cook you something. Didn't I mention? You look like a ghost."

She giggled. Her spur stopped after sudden realization. "I just remembered– I should go to Claire's for a quick check-up. We can meet after that, if you want."

The brunette sighed. It had been long since they last hung out, but it seemed like their stroll would have to be delayed. "Impossible. I'll be having a busy shift today. Sorry."

Anita smiled, undertanding. After all the Bazaar expansion and the boom of clients, Zephyr Town usually got busy days of turism. She dismissed the topic. "Nah, it's okay. I'll see you later, in the evening then?"

"Sounds good." he stated, walking her to the door and realizing that she wasn't wearing her turtle neck jersey anymore. Her neck was stubbornly hidden by her golden locks, though. "See ya!"

Anita saluted with a grin and turned to leave. During the fragments of moment between her departure and the door closing, he caught glimpse of a purple tatto imprinted on the right side of her neck. He didn't have much time to dwell on that, mainly because the door closed half a second later and left him speechless.

He blinked. It was the first time he doubted – in a serious way between paranoia and simple illusion – if what he had witnessed was real or just a fragment of imagination.

* * *

He was going to do it. He was actually going to do it!

He took a step forward. Then, there was no way he was going to do it.

"Oh, man, c'mon!" groaned Dirk from the doorway, facepalming. "Just go to her freaking house! Is it really so hard to accomplish?"

Ivan turned around and flushed with a nervous smile. His brother had gone all the way to the town entrance to wait for Ivan to arrive and tell him the good news about Anita. When he had explained – more like rushed to explain, since the mere mention of her name had set Ivan on a nervous fire Dirk had to put off – the situation to him, the caramel blonde jumped all the way home like a child.

It seemed the horizon was shining brightly for the impossible drama-duo. After Dirk's statement of _'she's gonna forgive you'_ and forgetting about the other _'or, at least, she's gonna try'_ fragment, Ivan had made up his mind to go see her.

The teacher fidgeted. "It is not easy, Dirk! I'm just so afraid of her not forgiving me in the end!" he trembled. "Or worse, what if she throws me a cow this time!?"

Seeing his brother horrendously uptight, the brunette gripped his shoulders for some comfort. _Goddamit_ , wasn't he tall. "You'll be fine." he had said that a big numer of times and he was starting to worry about it.

Ivan straightened his coat with a not-so-confident smile. "Yes. Sure. You are right."

Don't ask him why, but it pleased Dirk to be the one who gave advice for once. It made him feel older, more mature and, above all, felt himself bonding with him. Putting the whole sad stuff he had going on aside, it was a good moment.

"I think I'll get going." Ivan prepared himself to dash by running in the same spot. "I will tell you how it went this evening."

And with that, he was off. Ivan had the feeling that if he stopped, he would doubt, thus stop and go home empty handed. Well, no! He wouldn't quit now! He was a man on a mission today: and it was getting the woman of his dreams or die in the process. Giving up wasn't a possibility.

That was, until he crashed into a very startled Angelo who was coming from a very useful afternoon of painting. They fell to the ground with a loud thud, shaking heads and Ivan already helping Angelo collect his tools. Without another word, he picked up his pace and ran once again, leaving the artist on the dust with a dumbfolded smirk.

Ivan ran between the flowerbeds, up the slope and past the pines by the mill. He had never ran so fast in his life. As a matter of fact, she must be the only girl to make him run such a distance with so much haste. The teacher stopped to catch his breath. His gaze adverted to her nice grown trees and crops, cabbage and turnips growing all over the orchard.

It was a very bright place. Sadly, the sun was already setting, so Ivan would have to see the farm's glory some other day. First, he had to knock on her door and beg for her forgiveness. If possible, he would try to keep some of his dignity.

Ivan walked up the stairs to her house and, without second thoughts, knocked. He closed his eyes, waiting for a response from inside, or any signs of her being alive. None of that happened.

He waited five full minutes for her to open, but, again, failed to see her. It wasn't until he heard a soft meow from her cat that he got suspicious. All livestock was inside – he also knew for a fact that Anita got her animals inside at 6 p.m, so she mustn't have been there short ago. Nessie climbed down the roof and padded to his side, rubbing her head against his leg.

Ivan adored cats. This one in particular had a special spot in his heart. He caressed behind its ear, gaining a purr as an aswer. "Good evening, Nessie. Have you seen your owner? I happen to be looking for her."

The cat seemed to have understood him, for she strolled to the door and went inside. Anita had forgotten to lock it – how reckless of her! He would sure lecture her for this whenever he had the chance. If he ever did, that is.

The boy took a look inside. The living room was empty, just like the kitchen and the barn. He also checked at the underground orchard just to make sure, but got nothing. He had started thinking she had fainted again, started panicking and sweating. It ended up with her to be most likely okay. Ivan sighed in relief.

But if she wasn't face first on the floor of any room of the house, where could she be, then?

Again, the cat meowed and rushed outside. The caramel haired boy decided that relying on the creature would be his best pick. Never had he thought that he would chase a cat around looking for Anita.

It was his best decision.

Nessie ran to the meadow behind the farm, skipping flowers under the moonlit sky. The teacher followed close behind, feeling the magic of the spring air gusting among his tresses.

Ivan saw the lights of the city behind the meadow, far behind them. In contrast to the golden lights, he made out Anita's silouette as she observed the landscape, deep in thought.

In the moment Nessie meowed again, she turned around to greet her dear pet and rub her muzzel a bit. What she didn't expect was to see the man of her dreams, nightmares and most disturbing thoughts to be right behind her, looking as lost in his eyes as he drowned in hers.

Ivan would plead for her forgiveness a hundred times if necessary. Still, it didn't look necessary, as she wasn't looking rather responsive at the moment. He didn't look much centred, either, but that was besides the point.

The point is, there was no point. None of them said anything to the other, as much as they would have liked to hug, scream their frustration out and beg for some mercy, they were at a loss of words. Oh, how much he would have liked her to lean on his shoulder again, like she had done at the start of the year.

The air was suddenly gone from his lungs. It burned him. But it wasn't the hellish burn he had been through after countless nights of wine and tears. It was more of a soft stinging feeling that her silence wasn't putting him at ease.

He wanted to say so many things... but found his voice to be smacked out of him.

However, her neutral glance held no good for him. That was probably the reason why he wanted to leave, yet stayed to stick to his mission: get her back, no matter what was thrown at him. He was getting her back tonight.

* * *

 **YAAAAS CHARACTER DEVELOPEMENT *breaks keyboard***

 **In celebration of a new follower I upload sooner than I expected. Also, some angst, and a little cliffhanger! Will Anita throw Ivan from the cliff? Who knows!**

 **I like Dirk and Anita's dyamic. Their so brotp, even more than Angelo and Anita. I love them so much. And of course, if I gave Ivan some guilt, Anita will have half of the share! #fairtrade**

 **Gramatical mistakes will be corrected later. Writing this on the mobile is a pain on the neck, but I have no compy at the moment. This will have to do then. See you! Also, free-daying is totally a thing.**


	9. Unfinished

**I hate my beginings for chapters and late updates. Life's been a whore to me lately.**

 **This chaper is filled of false fluff because this is just a break from the drama. And all breaks come to an end~! So just bear in mind this isn't over yet.**

* * *

An uncomfortable void of noise filled the area. Even after Ivan's surprising entrance and her looking at him – rather dazedly, if he said himself. God, those eyes of hers – they didn't speak a word.

But, after Ivan started thinking it would be like that forever, she spoke up.

"Ivan.." well, yeah, it was something. "What are you-?"

"-doing here?" completed the teacher, nervously making his way to her as she stood up. Nessie ran down her arms, landing on the ground. "A certain someone-"

"-Dirk-"

Ivan coughed. "-told me you were looking for me. Is that right?"

He could see her cringe slightly, like somebody who just got caught stealing the cookie from the jar. Gulping, she admitted doing such things. "Yeah, I was."

He waited for her to keep on talking– or maybe she was already finished and wanted him to leave? What was this, a hello goodbye meeting?

Oh, hell no. He wouldn't put up with that. He would take the words out of her with a rod if necessary. He stepped closer to her. His presence seemed to affect her eyes, seeing how they widened and her breath quickened. That was fast!

"Is that all?"

Anita looked to a blade of grass in the infinite field so she wouldn't shiver at the earnest hue of his eyes. He was just a step away from her reach. But she chickened at the sight of him. What to expect from him after all she put him through? On the same way, what could Ivan expect from her after all she hurt because of him?

Both were dramatically oblivious, yet so obvious.

"No. Of course not." this frightens him. Her tone isn't cold or warm: it's undecided. It's as if she's pondering whether to kick him out of existence or tie him close to her. "You know better than that, don't you?" asks she with a shiver.

He nods, but finds himself doubting.

"I'm... I'm truly sorry, Ivan." there, relax. He allowed himself a little smile, not forgetting about some remaining pain on the part which hit the table. "My behaviour this morning was... unacceptble to say least." confessed the blonde.

Ivan remained silent. He had nothing to say to her on that since she had apologized on her own. That was a good start. The purple-eyed man laughed it off. "It hurt a little, but I feel fine now."

Anita stood on her toe balls and caressed his forehead. "Gosh, I'm really sorry about that." he didn't move an inch. Whatever he did would sure scare her away and the only thing he wanted was for her to remain close. "I didn't know I was so strong, really."

"Trust me, neither did I. Or, at least, not to that point."

There they were, giggling like old times. It was good to finally free themselves from such tension. They were finally coming clean, finally! Oh, Dirk would be so proud of them. Well, him and the whole town, probably. But that was besides the point.

"I'm sorry for that and... about all the stuff we had going on." he didn't expect that. He let her continue nonetheless, given rushing things had been their moment from the start. "I was a brat to you because of a stupid... goddamit."

"I think we both have things to apologize for." stated he, sensing her awkwardness with the situation. Being sincere to himself, he wasn't feeling very confident, either. "But first things first..."

Ivan rumaged through the scarce contents of his pocket and took out a small bottle full of some kind of liquid tainted with a blue hue. "You gave me Herbal Perfume, so I got you Oceanic Perfume."

She seemed mesmerized by the gift. The corners of his lips quivered and rose into a smile. "A friend of Lloyd's attended the Bazaar the other day and had some of these. I thought of you almost instantly."

"O-Oh... that's-" pink tainted her soft cheeks, decorated with a smile of hers. "it's really thoughtful of you to do this, Ivan. Thank you."

The teacher chuckled. "I bet you also put some effort into that perfume of yours." he caressed her cheek tenderly, not realizing how beet red it was.

Another thing he didn't register until a few seconds later was the coldness of her flesh. If she was feeling cold, she never complained or made a face about it. However, he did realize and his heartbeats went over the roof. She snapped out of the daze of his eyes and the warmth of his hand when his hand flew to her forehead.

"Anita, for goodness' sake!" he took off his coat and sheathed her underneath the soft purpleness. "You are cold as winter!"

The sweet farmer instinctively shot a hand up to her own forehead, missing Ivan's after he removed his. "I am?"

The fretting teacher guided her through the fields with an arm around her shoulders. "You positively are. We are going home now."

Wow. That sounded marriage-like, so fullfilled with warmth and love. It would have been much more enjoyable to think about if she wasn't focused on not falling. Holy hell, when did the ground go down the pits of an abyss? Or when did she become so tall?

Whatever it was, it wasn't comfortable nor natural. And Ivan noticed her sudden dizzyness and eariness as well. He had only noticed how the word home had slipped out, but prefered to keep quiet about it.

Keeping her close, he saw Nessie hurry inside. "We must get you to warm up. No one would like seeing you come down with hypothermia, wouldn't we?"

She nodded absent-mindedly. The idea of such a bad fever sounded horrible to her among her foggy thoughts of a warm bed with the person the loved the most right now.

"Maybe I should call Claire." murmured Ivan as they made their way in. He let go of her for a moment to hang up his garments – it was sure going to be another good night, let's pray for the better this time. Anita minded her own business by slamming herself onto the bed, landing facefirst on the matress. The perfume lay, forgotten, on the table.

"God, but it's so late..."

Her next words were muffled by the blankets. "Don't do that. I don't want her coming over because of a temperature dib." she snuggled her way into the bed and made herself a blanket cocoon. "Besides, I just need some... warmth..."

He saw her giggle of pure content. Sighing, Ivan walked next to her. "-and I'll be fine in a sec! I'm tougher than I look!"

He wanted to slap her with photos of her in her unconcious for from the previous day. Not that he was calling her weak for that matter, but it would prove to Anita that her health was deflating to say at least. He bit his tongue and opted for a quicker solution.

"I approve of your little wrap-me-up solution, although I doubt it will be enough." not wanting to disturb her, the teacher effortlessly carried her to the fires of her fireplace. "There, a natural source of heat provided by your hearth."

Anita sighed again, content with the temperature and snuggling even deeper into her cocoon. He took it she wouldn't hear his next words.

"I'm going to get something for us to eat." she nodded courtly. "I'll be back soon. Please don't get much nearer to the flames, I'm not looking forward to seeing you catch on fire."

Anita pouted. "I'm not a kid, you know. I can handle myself." her cocoon-self fell on her side, snuggling. "I am perfectly fine."

He kneeled by her, amusement written all over his face. "I can see that." Ivan snorted. "But try not to drown in that. I promise you will feel better in no time."

Unfocused as a bird in a forest, she bobbed her head again. "M'okay."

He shuffled her hair with a little smile tugging his lips. Then he got up, wondering how she put up with his overprotective manners and how in earth he put up with her childish antics as well. It could be because, as he liked hers, she also liked to be protected? He wasn't sure.

But he was sure that whatever that was going on in her body wasn't normal at all. She was mad first, then all kinds of forgiving and after that, shivering? Claire's medicine shouldn't have any counter effects at this point anymore. So why this swings? Was there something else going on apart from some aftereffects of a messed up medicine?

Now in the kitchen, he peered from the other room to check on her. She was wrapped in herself, lying on her side and staying quiet. Ivan smiled softly and got to work once again, searching for some chocolate to satisfy her soaring cold stomach.

He then realized he didn't even know if she liked sweets or not. Shoot. How could he be such an idiot? Anita knew everything about him, from the size of his shoes to his favourite shampoo – he, on the other side, knew little tidbits about her: he knew she loved nature, having walks and chatting. It was also a thing for her to go around to keep herself entertained with whatever that crossed her way.

Well, and also that she had a cousin.

Oh no, and what about her parents? Goodness, he knew little to zero about that! That earned him a good hit with the soup spoon. How could the always wise teacher know so little about the woman who knew him like the back of her hands?

God, she could be a runaway and he wouldn't even know – and, until now, seemingly wouldn't care to know either. Or she could be chasing some ambicious dreams of being a farmer, or maybe leave some troubling past behind – maybe even a _someone_? Who knows with her.

Ivan peeked again. She was still quiet. How would he get any answers from her in such hibernation state? It could also be the case somebody knew about her past and would be willing to share some knowledge – but it was just plain wrong. You don't go around asking about the woman of your life and her past. Moreover, it wouldn't be correct for him to know if it came from anyone who wasn't her.

It had to come out of her. He sighed and got back to work, finding some chocolate to cook. He also fetched some milk and a pair of mugs to pour the substance.

A few minutes later, he was back in the living room with a two mugs in his hands. After settling them on the table, he gathered another blanket and nestled himself by her. Anita seemed unfazed by his presence.

She seemed unfazed to his calls of attention, too. He didn't realize that her eyes were closed and she was asleep – at least, that's what it seemed. God forbid him if she had fainted again – Ivan wouldn't know what to do with himself anymore.

Ivan tapped her shoulder a few times. To his very fortune, she stirred and sat again, rubbing her eyes as he offered the steaming mugs. This was the only sweet drink he could swallow and that's how they were gonna have it. He wasn't going to get anything differently sweet past his esophagus.

Anita took a few sips. "This is good." she sighed out of pleasure. "I was sleeping anyway. Just a few minutes more and I would have been perfectly fine."

"Didn't you say you were fine already a few minutes ago?" he chuckled at her sheepish pression, probably due to the groggyness or the way his eyes shone to the flames. "I would have woken you up one way or another."

"Well," Anita smiled, showing pearly whites. "one can dream."

He laughed a bit and drank from his chocolate. It was a very good mug of chocolate, how hadn't she praised him for his skills after having made something that good?

He hummed in approval and shifter closer to her. She lay her head on his shoulder. Ah, old, good times.

"I still don't get it, though." murmured she, eyes focused on the fire. "I was fine like an hour ago."

"It's only been fifteen minutes."

She huffed. "Whatever. It felt like an eternity." Anita sunk beneath her blankets, making herself smaller. "If you had been here with me, it wouldn't have been such a boring sleep."

Old bashful Ivan would have been blushing all day because of that little slip of the tongue – judging by the way her eyes widened, it _had_ slipped – and stammer when talking to her again. However, based on all the moments they had, both the bad and the good ones, and him being able to keep himself in check whenever she was near, he was much cooler with that.

Ivan only smiled to her in appreciation, uncommon mischievous spark in his eyes. "Well, maybe if you had not nicedly and politely taken me out of your house this morning, I would have been more than eager to stay."

Anita puffed her cheeks and punched his arm. "Oh, don't be such a meanie, it doesn't suit you. And, again, I'm sorry for that."

"I know, don't worry." the caramel blondie snuggled with her. Much to his pleasure, she also shifter closer. "It will be our little habit: whenever we have any disagreement, you can take the trash I am out from your house." she giggled. "I will try to be gentler with you, though. I wouldn't like to damage your porcelain skin."

Well, albeit the situation was peachy as hell, he had taken a good thing out of it: now they had a private joke.

"Oh, Ivan..." he felt her shake her head in resignation. "What am I gonna do with you?"

He almost jumped. "You are one to speak! Do I have to remind you and Emiko?"

Oh no, she tensed. Her spine tightened around her whole being as her heart took all the information in and remembered all the mess she had caused because of some stupid jealousy. After breathing in, breathing out, she smied. He could tell she was bitting on her tongue so she wouldn't yell, throw a tantrum or throw a table to him.

That girl had one hell of a self-control sometimes. "Yeah, you're right about that, too." there was no blush on her cheeks. She wasn't flustered, she was ashamed! He gulped with guilt. "I'm sorry for all of that as well."

He pulled her closer, arranging her blankets and letting his arm hang around her shoulders. His wrapped mess fell a little. "I owe you an apology for being such a babblery child around her. It must have... _offended_ you..."

Okay, he knew it wasn't a matter of _offense_ what had got her so drawn down, but he was dodging the subject of love with spectacular care at this point. She laughed breathily. "Not that much, really. But I was so tired and so... so everything, really."

Them both smiled tenderly at each other. Her forehead collided with his neck, forehead that he kissed with great love. "I understand."

Anita nodded slightly. "I was hoping you would." because she would be willing to give as many apologies as necessary. "And on your part... I can't expect myself to be your most beautiful friend. Some girls are just off-limits."

She actually drew the friendzone line faster than he reckoned her to do, so he zoned out for a few seconds and then snapped back to reality. "You are still up in the list."

"That's flattering." he chuckled. "I didn't know what to think anymore."

"Is my view so important to you?" inquired Ivan with narrowed eyes. Anyone who didn't know better would have labelled her as shallow straightaway. He did know better.

"Yeah." she whispered. "I like to know what's your view on things. You're important for me, you know."

At this sudden revelation after apparently friendzoning him, he blushed and couldn't help his heart tachycardia. Her next words flew him into focus again. "... and I thought that this concern wasn't reciprocated. I'm still in the dark about... this, us."

He inhaled a sharp intake of air and paled after his blush was drained away. Ivan was struggling to find the words to put his emotion into letters and imprint them on her brain so she wouldn't doubt ever again. That distraught face of hers was too much for a man to handle twice. Once had already been too much.

"I was in the dark when I noticed your absence." she then looked at him. He bured his head on her hair, taking in the lillies, the spring breeze and apples in her scent. "I was in the dark after you disappeared again. I was in the dark after finding you just to see you collapse and lose you again. This morning– no, today, I felt completely lost."

His forehead landed on hers somehow. Ivan didn't miss the dazed and shocked expression in her eyes. It hurt to see her so surprised after being told she was cared for – it shouldn't come as such a surprise. "I think I have been lost all my life. That is, before you came to Zephy Town. You made my life much brighter."

He managed to even cuddle with her forehead. He was marvelled by her purely happy smile. If that was all that took to make her so giddy, he would come to her house and tell her everyday. "Do you remember about that arguement I had with Dirk? You were there for me."

"It was nothing..."

"It was _not_ nothing." corrected he. His voice was just as low as soft and caring. It squished her stomach to see him so near and thoughtful with her. "You helped me with a lot of problems I– we had, me and Dirk as well."

Without inching away from her, Ivan took her hands. "You made us all better people. I couldn't have asked for a better person to come here than you." it almost sounded like a confession, but since it was something she should have known by now, he just thought of it as a security measure so she wouldn't ever hurt again. Not while he was around.

"You are important for me. I can't put you above Dirk because he is my brother, but you are closer to him than anybody else." their noses were closer than ever now. "And I will spend all my life if necessary making up for all the pain I have put you through these weeks. If I have to write it all over the walls of everyone's houses, you know I will do it."

He saw tears brimming out from her eyes. Holy cakes, did he make her cry? Had he done something wrong? She must have sensed his panic, for she wiped her teadrop and smiled. "G-God d-damn it. Ivan. It's n-not fair..."

She let out a breathy chuckle seeing his confused face. "I can't compare my shitty 'You are important to me' with your... god, that was poetry."

He smiled as well, grabbing her hands in a loving and tighter grip. "Oh, trust me. Poetry is _much_ better than my phrasing, thank you very much."

She giggled. The former emo farmer was starting to do that heavenly sound once again. "But, Ivan... you– having people like Freya and Sherry around, so nice, strong and sophisticated.. why hang around a wimp like me?"

Ivan openly laughed at that. It was her time to be confused. "Maybe because you're _my_ wimp. And, stupid as it sounds, I wouldn't change a thing about it." she almost fainted again at that, but realized it wasn't the appropiate time and got herself together. "What truly is stupid is you calling yourself weak, which you definitely are not."

"I keep on moping around like some kind of weakling."

"Working in a farm is tough work." whispered he reassuringly. "I always thought you were the most hard-working person of the town."

"Oh, no." she shook her head. "That person is you, I'm afraid."

Ivan smiled. "Touché. But it's not the same kind of work. And I don't recall any complaints from any of your animals, so you must be doing a great work. Actually, Nessie seems to be very fond of you."

"I bribe her with cat cookies. She'll choke on those one day."

They openly laughed, as if it hadn't been done in years. All they were doing felt so new and fresh, yet so good... their breaths were mingling and mixing in a puff of shaky, anticipative breeze. Ivan would have kissed her long ago if he had had the opportunity – and it noe qualified as the perfect ocassion.

Ever so slowly, Ivan leant in, hoping for movement on her side. He saw the way Anita's eyes fluttered close with a blissful expression, one so peaceful and loving... god, how much he wanted her– how much he had always wanted her.

But a trace of blue caught his eyes right before closing them. His head had plumetted to space, only to crash down once more and get fixated by the imprinting on her soft skin. When she noticed him brushing some strands out from her neck, Anita got startled and opened her eyes, an interrupted paradise of disappointment drowning her.

So, so close...!

"What is this?" asked he, eyeing the tattoo with curiosity. The purple snowflake seemed to twinkle to the light if the hearth.

Anita quickly blinked and covered her mark as if by instinct. "Oh, it's-"

"It's not nothing." retorted Ivan. "Let me see."

The sweet farmer hurried to get away with slow crawls backwards. "It's nothing to be worried about, Ivan! I swear I'm-"

Sneeze. " _fffffine_."

Oh, no. He forgot about the stupid mark on her mark – somehow similar to a snowflake, he wouldn't forget – and swiftly moved to stay in front of her, almost hovering over her form.

Ivan put a hand on her forehead and wasn't surprised to see it burning. "No. Goodness gracious, you _are_ burning up!"

Her temperature was switching from pole-cold to hellish cold, and he didn't like that at all. Ivan hurriedly carried her to the bed and tucked her in, running for some cloth to damp afterwards. He put it in water and didn't waste time on putting it on her forehead, a sweaty and slimmy surface by now.

The cloth caressed her skin. "You are getting seriously ill, Anita." his tone almost felt chiding. "And I do not like that. When I said I wanted to keep you safe, I meant it – but you're making it tremendously difficult."

She giggled. Anita was cute even being sick and probably helpless at this point. How in the world did she get sick if her problem was having a low corporal temperature an hour ago? And now she was on fire? Ivan was going to drag Claire to Anita's house without arguement.

"I don't get it either, really." said she. "I started feeling unreasonably hot, and I thought it was because of the blanket...! ...but it wasn't!"

"I don't really understand any of this." muttered he as if he hadn't heard her. "I'll get Claire here tomorrow to check on you."

"I'm bothering her too much." groaned the blonde, making him raise an eyebrow. "She'll end up loathing me."

"No one in their right mind would do that." spoke he with care. His other hand caressed hers. "Besides, she's much more professional than to dislike you for something which wasn't your fault."

"I doubt one can handle that much."

"Stop thinking about that and focus on sleeping."

Anita frowned. "How do you want me to sleep with you here? You should go home."

"What?" he stopped patting her forehead. "I am staying here. And this time, you won't kick me out."

"Ivan, I am a poweful source of bacteria and sweat." Ivan held in a good laugh at her fed up tone. "How are you gonna stay with a sick bomb like me?"

Ivan snorted. "I have a very strong immunological system. It can fight you tonight."

"I think I'll end up fighting you if you are so stubborn to stay." argued she. But both could tell she wanted him to stay very badly.

Ivan looked at her dead in the eye. "Do you find yourself capable of fighting me in such horrible condition?" ironically, as if she was justifying his thoughts, she sneezed again. "I will stay here for tonight, Anita."

"But-" he adamantly shook his head. "-Dirk?"

"He would get furious at me if I did such a thing like leaving you here on your own." shoot. Dirk must be worried about Ivan not having come home yet! He'd have to explain later. "I don't have to go to the city tomorrow, so I'll be around."

"You're so stupid, Ivan." said she, laughing and making it seem totally meaningless.

He puffed his cheeks. "I just want to make it up to you. I made a promise, right?" Ivan kissed her forehead. "And I'm planning on fufilling my word."

Anita smiled, her heart roaring for the man in front of her who would be covered in love bites if she wasn't restrained by her boiling temperature. He smiled back. "You... you're totally impossible."

He grinned cheekly. "It is my mission to be headstrong with matters concerning your health. So, yes, I am impossible."

"... and I wouldn't have it any other way." whispered Anita, head falling sidewards and her eyelids closing for a few minutes.

Ivan murmured under his unsteady breath:

"Well now, you see my point."

* * *

 **CAN WE TALK ABOUT– ABOUT ALL OF THIS? IT'S JUST TOO MUCH FOR ME TO TAKE *faints***

 **I wanted to make a huge note here: it's important to see each point of view. Ivan has had a very troubled childhood, the loss of his parents has sure left a mark on his heart that must have been a bitch to him. Anita comes in and she's all sunshine, who wouldn't worship a sun? If someone was to make my life take a leap for the better, I'd sure as f*ck stick with them until the end.**

 **This is what Ivan does. He sees her going through a critical point and, just as she did with him, he'll go with her all the way. They love each other a lot, and he knows this is a reciprocated feeling– but it'll have to wait for her to be on her feet again.**

 **As for now, we'll have to see what's wrong with Anita and her weird-ass tattoo.**


	10. Unmoving

**Hi again. I didn't give up on this I didn't I didn't NO I DIDN'T SHUT UP, I'VE BEEN SO FUCKING BUSY *throws chair at screen***

 **Don't worry about me, I'm just fine. I've been busy with exams and projects and dick friends and... just life in general. I'll try to update sooner next time.**

 **Let's go! *throws myself off a cliff* by the way short chapter because I had no more time to make it larger, sorry!**

* * *

When Ivan woke up, he made sure not to wake her up and tiptoe his way to the kitchen without being heard. Before walking away, he put a tender hand on Anita's forehead and holy sh- she was burning.

Ivan took an abandoned piece of clothing that lay on her counter and dampened it, placing it on her forehead afterwards. He saw her stir lightly and murmur a few nothings to her hair– or more a mess of golden strands sprayed around her head. Her cheeks were completely flushed and her breath came out in laboured, long sighs.

The caramel blonde glanced at the clock and pondered his thoughts. Going to Claire's so early would be a pretty bad thing to do. But Anita's health was at stake and he would do his best to get her back to her feet. He buttoned his shirt to the neck, put on his jacket and silently exited the house.

Half and hour later, a very anxious redhead opened the door with her pinkette coleage and the town's fellow teacher, who could now allow himself to breathe seeing her in good hands. Claire and Nellie started with their regular check-ups and brought out some medicine and notepads.

Dirk and Freya joined the scene, but were scarcely seen as Ivan took them out to speak with more privacy.

"What's wrong now?" demanded Freya, frowning. "I saw Nellie and Claire running here and got curious."

"More like worried sick." remarked Dirk after remembering how pale she had got after joining the dots.

The blue-eyed girl smacked his shoulder.

Ivan sweatdropped. His ease broke down with a sigh a few seconds later. "Anita's health is... weak, now." explained he. "She has been suffering of temperature swings, but I expect her to be back to normal soon."

"That's what you told Claire, right?" asked Freya, squinting her eyes.

"Yeah."

She could read him like an open book.

"Now, tell us what _really_ happened."

Ivan pinched the bridge of his nose, an uncommon gesture of distress that he didn't do in purpose. Dirk knew about this and also came to realize how bad the situation had to be if he was so pale and so, so stiff.

"She got cold, then became a vulcano and collapsed." both newbies gasped. "Other than that, there's nothing new. Fainting, having heat attacks... none of that is new for her."

Newbie 1 and Newbie 2 exchanged glances and furrowed their eyebrows. Not so Newbie Ivan sighed, shoulders slumped with exhaustion.

"We were having such a tranquil night. She started sneezing out of the blue and I had to carry her to the bed." explained he, avoiding the fact that he slept with her

– only in the same bed –

and that he had seen that weird tattoo imprinted on her neck.

Freya smirked with devilish eyes. "Oh. And I'm certain you weren't willing to carry her, were you?"

Ivan hissed under his breath. " _Jusshutup_."

Dirk ignored that issue. He focused on the most important one right now: Anita's health. "Jikes! This isn't good at all!" murmured the teenager. "There must be something we can do!"

The other female nodded her head with fervor and agreeing with him. She wasn't going to let her free day go to waste, nor was she goin

"I'm afraid that's not a possibility." sighed Ivan. "This is on Claire and Nellie's hands now. We don't have any medical experience other than knowledge about colds and wounds– how would that help now? Besides, we don't know what Anita is suffering of in the first place."

Dirk's eyes hardened as they also shone with fueled determination. Anita was his friend as well. He had no say in Ivan's love life – and whatever that had happened the night before that Ivan wasn't purposely talking about. However, he would always rise to help her even if his brother restrained him.

Giving up wasn't a possible option. And, given Freya's nod, it seemed like he would have someone as a backup on this.

He wasn't giving up, not ever ag-!

"Listen to the smarthead, he knows his stuff."

The three of them turned to Claire, who appeared pretty tired on the doorway due to the early hours and the interrupted hours of sleep. She caressed her forehead to relieve her stress and exhaustion. There was a hint of worry in her eyes.

Ivan approached her, Freya and Dirk tagging along. "How is she?"

"It could be a nasty flu, book boy. Sadly, after some more deep checkups, it's worse than we expected."

The young girl and the waiter gasped, horrified. The teacher knew better than to lose his composure and swallowed.

"Her body isn't reacting to any of our medicine– more like she isn't reacting fully positively to them." her glance was cast on Ivan's eyes. "Her temperature swings are getting worse and worse. I'm not sure how long can a human being handle them, but I can ensure it's not a a very extended span of time."

Them all were taken aback by her words. Ivan was starting to breath harder and deeper than ever, Freya was sweating and Dirk had to sit down. The female dared to speak up. "What do you mean by... what could happen if she didn't...?"

Nellie appeared in the doorway as well. She was the next one to answer given she had been listening all the time.

"She'll most likely collapse out of mental and physical exhaustion." interjected she. "There's something wrong with her system we can't repel or locate. Her brain trying to knock her out of it so she can stop suffering..."

Dirk rose an eyebrow when Nellie trailed off.

"...but?"

Claire sighed. "Something else is making her stay conscious. Whether she's willingly staying awake, her brain is trying to shut her down. I think Anita is actually trying to cooperate with us, but..."

They stayed silent for a few seconds.

Then the redhead spoke again. "I think she's afraid of not waking up ever again if she gives up... and it's a logical fear. It's not a discarded possibility."

Three faces paled.

The other doctor would have liked to lessen the impact – because her friend had no touch with those things – but there was no other way around it. Anita could be dying, or she could get through it.

Nellie sighed as well. "We don't know what to do now. Anita's body rejects the paramedics and doesn't react to external contact. She's struggling between conciousness and a physical and mental breakdown. Sometimes she's aware of her surroundings, sometimes she isn't and goes into overdrive."

Ivan was seriously considering throwing up out of anxiety. His whole being was trembling as it was filled with both despair and shock. His eyes were going wild, his hair was starting to perk up and he was in the end positively quivering.

His whole body trembled.

Anita could be dying.

 _Anita could be dying._

Anita was not alright.

She was sick.

Oh so very sick.

Anita could be dying.

dying dying dying dying dying dying...

"...d-dying, dying, dying, dying, d-dying..."

Dirk got up and grabbed his brother's shoulders tightly, shaking his pale form. "Ivan! Ivan, snap out of it!"

He was violently shaking and blabbering nonsense to himself, his eyes lost somewhere else as his mind bounced to nowhere, skipping in between reality and what wasn't so present: his memories with her, a laugh, a tear, them quarreling, them smiling, them reading, them talking...

It was her all around him. Just the thought of her in such critical predicament made him just tremble more. He wasn't shaking, he was practically _convulsing_ at this point.

"Oh my goddess!" Claire rushed to his side as Ivan's legs buckled underneath him and she got a hold on him. "HE'S HAVING A SEIZURE!"

Dirk stepped back to let them work, Freya screaming at Ivan to get a hold of himself while holding his scared brother. Dirk was left shivering at the sight of his ever-so-strong brother collapsing in front of him.

Ivan hadn't ever reacted this bad to these kinds of things. In fact, he never broke when his parents died. Or, if he did, Dirk never noticed. His older brother had reacted badly to those news, had cried hysterically and gotten a little bit tipsy some wine nights.

But, just start to melt at them?

Not ever.

Freta, on her part, was a loss at words. Anita was seriously ill and she couldn't do anything to lessen her pain. She was practically tied on this. She was useless now. It all depended on Anita and she hated that. In fact, had it been her with freedom to do whatever she wanted, and she would make fucking sure to bring Anita back.

Alas, all she could do was watch the events unfold to their own will.

When Nellie confirmed that Ivan had ended up fainting, she took him inside. Freya had wanted to follow her, but decided not to seeing how shaken Dirk was. Claire sighed.

"Well, if this isn't a problem...!"

* * *

"He fainted!? Are you serious!?"

"Yeah."

"How can that be true? Ivan is so stoic all the time! You gotta be kidding me!"

Kevin sighed. "It's not even close to a joke, Cindy. After hearing the news about Anita's worsening health, he had a breakdown."

Ethel spoke up with her raspy, sweet voice. It held pure worry nonetheless. "Is she that sick?"

Freya, who had sat down on the flowerbed in front of the square clock, glanced at the mass of people who had gathered around to listen to the news. They were being hard to assimilate.

"Yeah." breathed she. "It pains me to confirm the situation _is_ that bad. Anita's breaking down bit by bit, her mind almost shattered at this point struggling to shut down. She's making the biggest of efforts to stay awake so she can cooperate."

She bit her tongue to dodge the topic about Anita being also afraid of a looming death in case she stopped fighting the illness. A shadow crossed Dirk's face, who nodded his agreement.

Lloyd stepped forward. "What does she have?" he wasn't one to show much care towards any individual, but after realizing how Anita had stopped visiting him to annoy the hell out of him, he gor nervous. He was now truly worried about his friend, a very important one.

Angelo glanced at him with furrowed eyebrows. He shared his concern towards the blonde girl and even made it deeper given how much he wanted to talk to her after her breakdown from sometime ago. She had made herself terribly scarce around town, and it made him worry and warn other villagers, who agreed on her strange disappearence and had gathered today to speak about it.

Yet, no matter how severe her illness was, he knew her enough to know her heavy head and confude on her to come back. She would no matter what, and Angelo knew that. He had faith.

"It's still unknown." answered Claire with crossed arms. "We don't know the source, its nature or its location. Her body ignores the medicine or digests it badly."

The whole town seemed to slump down when they heard this. Saddened whispers about Anita not deserving this and sighs from others invaded the athmosphere. There was also a whimper.

The Mayor looked down to see Lauren sniffling at the news. Cindy held her hand gingerly.

"Mom?" Claire looked at his son. "Is she... is Anita gonna...?"

Everyone jerked in anticipation. Claire, however, was touched by her son's earnest tone. She had never seen him so dejected in his whole life. Did Anita mean so much to him?

Kevin was looking at her, but his mom looked to her side, just as upset as her son. Kevin's eyes were watering up, but he was forcing himself to stay quiet and save his pride. He had never admitted how much he liked Anita – not in a crush way, but more like admiration – until he noticed her absence. He missed her a lot, just running around with her and laughing his day off.

Kevin believed in her so much, she had to push through and be alright!

"She's strong, Kevin." her eyes were looking at her feet. "She's the strongest for holding up 'till now. I trust her enough to come back, but we're not sure when she will."

Marian and Antoinette shared worried looks. "Will she be alright?" asked them both at the same time.

Judging by everyone's eyes, they were wondering the same. It was because they loved the upbeat farmer, because she had done so much for the community and because, damn, Ivan would be done if she abandoned them.

They asked, so Claire had no other option but to answer.

"I have no idea, son." she ruffled his hair attempting to shrug it off. "But she'll get over this. I can tell you that much."

* * *

"Anita...?"

Ivan crawled from the makeshift bed by the table to his love's bed, still numb from before and feeling sore to the core. But he didn't care. He needed to see her and just check her breathing.

Just...

Just in case she was in need for help. Even in his zombie state, he would make a cake for her if she asked. Anything for her welfare since he needed her back to keep on living in his right mind. He didn't need another corpse to bury.

Ivan needed her a little bit too much. He couldn't have her dying just when they had almost kissed, almost made up, almost cured each other's scars, almost-

Damn, almost _everything_! They had a lot of uncovered path to still walk! She wouldn't leave him while he was around.

Ivan arrived to ber bed and threw himself on her sleeping form. By what Claire had said before, this was a rare sight, so he drank from her peaceful face with tired eyes.

He gripped her hand.

 _She couldn't die._

He gripped harder.

 _She couldn't._ He wouldn't fucking let her go.

Feeling drowsy from all the little movement he did and also a little light-headed, Ivan murmured sweet nothings to the comfy coverlet as he fell into a deep slumber.

His hand never lost hers.

* * *

 ***shipping overload***

 ***brotp overload***

 ***sick Anita overload***

 ***breaks***

 **I know little to nothing about mental breakdowns and seizures, so I hope you weren't expecting an accurate description. So not gonna happen.**

 ***dies***


	11. Undone

**I'm dropping this here quickly before parting to class. Sorry for my current delay in updates. And yeah, this is rather short.**

* * *

She wasn't that dazzled.

No, really, she wasn't.

She was a doctor, so she had to get a hold of herself and start working. Nellie brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, sighing with adoration. Ivan was sprawled over Anita, as if he was trying to grasp the little health she had left and make her stay.

The pinkhead smiled tenderly despite the situation in front of her. They reminded her of Isaac and her in their younger years, when it was all smooches, hugs and roses – now it was more like windmills, children and Bazaar work.

Now, that was a heaven breaker.

Claire breezed behind her with a knowing smile. "They're so lovey-dovey, aren't they?"

Nellie gasped. She was about to respond but the other doctor laughed it off. "Don't fret. They do look cute, and they will make it through." sigh. "But let's prioritize here, okay? We first need to take care of them."

"Yes."

"Let's carry the potato sack to the couch and treat him later. Anita is our priority at the moment, so he can wait a little longer."

Once he was lying on the sofa, Nellie checked on him quickly. "He seems to be asleep now. I think he's fine."

"Nice! Now hurry over here and help me, will you?"

Claire took out a heavy suitcase full of needles, pills, creams and medicine. Nellie observed how her sensei did some general tests on her faltering farmer, all of them with no good result. The redhead moved around like she always did, feeling the same frustration she always felt and failing as she seemed to be doing very often lately.

"She's not getting better..." muttered Claire.

Nellie padded next to the bed. "How is her temperature?"

"Cold. She's cold as snow. Look at her." the blanket around her sick body was partially removed. "She looks like a ghost."

Nellie gasped. Never had she ever seen her favourite blond in such critical state before. Even the couch seemed to react, given how it cringed. She paid no mind to the noises and focused on Anita.

"Oh no..."

There was a heavy silence that lingered in the air for a whole minute. Both women exchanged worried looks, hopeless. They had never felt so useless in their lives as experienced doctors. Well, Nellie still had some road to go, but she was learning and had done great progress.

However, this situation wasn't something to be tolerated. Anita was at risk of falling down if she didn't get a solution soon. Yet, it depended on a pair of doctors who were lost in despair of not knowing what to do.

Zephyr Town would be lost without her.

Everybody would be devasted if they found her dead one night.

Dirk would surely go on a rampage if he knew how severe the danger was.

And Ivan... he would sure come down with a depression or worse if he discovered the love of his life died. He was currently losing it just knowing the possibilty was there. They only had to glance at his body on the sofa and remember the previous day.

"Do you think... she..."

Claire fervently shook her head, stubborn to the very end. "Don't even dare to say it, Nellie. She'll make it through."

Nellie had had enough of hearing the same riddle. "Quit saying the same thing over and over when we have no idea, Claire!"

She sighed, scowling deeply. "Do you think saying it makes it any easier? I'm trying to find faith somewhere, even if it's self-infounded!"

"And are you sure it'll make it all better? We must do much more than wishful thinking and start either telling everyone about her comatose state or go for much more serious treatments!"

"And how are we supposed to do that, Nellie? We don't have enough resources to look for better solutions than this one. What's the bright idea, smarthead!?"

Nellie puffed a considerable amout of air and let her towels fall down. "We'll have to go out of town and seek for help! This isn't going to get solved on its own!"

"Have you gone nuts, Nellie?" exclaimed the other woman. "If the word spreads we're such uncompetent doctors, it'll be the ruin of this town!"

"Does the town's reputation matter more than her life?" shouted she back, exasperated. "Are you being serious right now, Claire!?"

Claire frowned deeply, stressed out of her mind. "The Mayor will go berserkers if he finds out! That, if he hasn't already!"

"Oh, really? ARE YOU SURE HE DOESN'T KNOW ALREADY!?" Nellie stepped dangerously near to her mentor. "And, if that were to be true, how can you think of Felix so shallowly to even think he cares about the town more than he cares about Anita!?"

"That's not the point!" yelled the other one. Seeing the arguement going nowhere, she sighed and cooled off. "Look Nellie, what I mean is that we should be experienced enough to solve this. There might not be enough help outside."

"You can't say that unless we try!" exclaimed the pinkhead, wanting to throw a bigger tantrum. "It's useless for us to keep on trying if we're aways going backwards!"

"We're going to keep on trying, Nellie. And it's the last word we'll say about this."

"Claire-!"

"But,"

Nellie came to a halt.

"I promise that if we can't sort this out on our own, I'll go outside myself and seek for help. And I never go back on my words."

Nellie's shoulders sank down. Her friend was too strongheaded to give up– when would she actually realize this problem was too big for them to tackle? Was she so blind?

Both of them hated to feel useless, but that was the raw reality of the situation. It was very stupid to delay other solutions from coming, given it would only weaken Anita more. This situation was just so stupid and severe that Nellie was at loss of words and ideas.

She could only pray.

"For now, we'll go and have a talk with Felix. He might be able to give us some advice, even if he knows nothing about medicine."

"That will do for now, I hope." Nellie caressed Anita's damp forehead and sighed. The couch actually _cringed_ at her sad tone. "Hold on for us, okay? We'll fix you soon, sweetie."

The pinkhead kissed her cheek with a mother instinct and followed her mentor out of the door, brisking away like the wind.

However, Ivan – who had been awake during the conversation and was _so_ not happy, sat up on the couch and scratched his neck, glancing at his crush with a pained expression, one of those you only see four or five times in a lifetime.

He adjusted his shirt, noticed that his jacket and vest hung on a chair and strolled towards her, just like he did the night before, but maybe more enthusiastic and less catatonic. Ivan sat next to her, watching her chest go up and down and how beads of sweat cascaded down her face.

He bit his lip, struggling to contain his urge to hug her and wail desperately.

Ivan couldn't believe it.

She was dying.

The sun of his life was fading away.

And he had no say against it.

It was over.

 _It was over._

He was over. Broken, done, shattered.

Ivan took refuge in the remaining heat of her body and let some tears fall, trying to grasp her life and just... beg for her to stay with him, forever. He swore he wouldn't let her go, that he would cherish her everyday and never ever doubt again.

But it seemed a decade late. And he cried for letting her go, for not knowing what was going on even if it was happening in front of him.

He was lost in a crowd full of madness.

And he was the only sane one who could make it right.

Somewhere along the way of sleep, his eyes snapped open when her warmth switched to deadly coldness. It literally knocked him over, making him step back and look up.

With a confident glint in his eyes, he made up his mind.

 _"If you can't be strong now, I'll be strong for the both of us."_ Ivan wiped some ugly tears away with gritted teeth. _"I'm not going to disappoint you ever again, Anita. I swear."_

He looked at her once again and mused about how peaceful she looked on the outside, but how crazy it must be being inside of her brain. Ivan sighed.

He was defeated, dejected, almost insane because she was dying with no apparent reason. However, he was going to sort it out. There was no way Anita would die with him doing nothing about it. This was his stubborn side, and it would come in handy.

His left hand rumaged through his pocket once he put his jacket on and eventually found the item he was looking for. He took it out. Its shappire glory shone to the sunlight that peeked through the courtains of her bleak house.

Ivan smiled slightly.

It was a promise.

He would come back to her, just as she would come to him eventually. They'd crash in each other's arms when the time came.

Ivan approached her gingerly and placed the dear object on her hand, watching how she didn't grab it directly. His nose wrinkled in a disappointed glance. Still, he shouldn't have expected less from a probably-soon-to-be corpse. Ivan took the item and wondered where to leave it.

His answer came clear when he discovered a photo album between some cooking books and geography guides. Ivan found a certain page with a pretty photo of him, Dirk and Anita during – if he was correct – last year's Fall Bazaar. They were under a tree's shade near Joan's stand, having a nice lunch.

He stared at the picture very fondly, touching the plastic cover. He didn't remember taking this picture, but just seeing her so happy – and contrasting so much with her current state, he noted grimly – ignited a flame in his heart. The whole place seemed to light up with her presence, Dirk's laugh and Ivan's smile.

If only it were possible to go backwards and capture those joyful moment again...

He tucked the little thing in and put the book back to its place. After that, Ivan left the house with a hardened resolve.

* * *

"Ivan, Ivan, Ivan!"

"I have no time, Dirk!"

"But, where are you going!?" exclaimed the teenager, following his unstoppable brother as he went from a room to another, packing his things in a bag. "You came home blabbering about Anita and going out!"

The teacher came to a halt. "Ah, sorry about that." Dirk actually thought he was stopping to talk, but it turns out he only stopped to gather some books. "I'll be leaving for a while, maybe a week or two."

"Huh, why?"

"Anita."

Oh, he said enough.

It made Dirk start thinking. "Uh, Ivan, she's being treated by Claire and Nellie, why the rush?"

"Their treatment is rather slow if I do say myself, so I am going to search for a cure out of here." spoke he gently. "Anita is in great danger now, and they are not willing to seek for help. I am taking the matter in my owm hands now."

"But Ivan, what if she wakes up-?"

"If she does, she knows I will come back. However, if I stay, I will go berserkers standing here doing nothing. How am I going to live with her needing my help?"

Dirk went silent and observed how his brother moved frantically around their house.

"You... you want to cure her?"

"Well, not exactly... but I'll try and do my best." muttered the other, a little unsure. "It doesn't matter how much time it takes me to find a cure, but I won't come back until I find a cure for her."

"That's pretty reckless, Ivan. We don't even know her illness, how are you gonna manage to find a cure?"

"I have my ways, Dirk. And I am aware of the difficulties. Yet, I'll accomplish my goal." he closed his bag and put it over his shoulder. "I won't fail this time. I'm not going to lose her."

The chestnut haired male observed, again, how Ivan wandered around and ended up closing his bag for good this time. "Ivan, I-"

"I'll be back... soon, I hope." he said, dead serious. His mouth traced a thin line. "I have to find a solution, fix this. It isn't correct for her to leave without me fighting for her, don't you think?"

Dirk stared at him, at a loss of words. A question lingered in his eyes, burning his aching heart and voicing them to Ivan in a quiet hush of air. The older brother was perceptive enough to catch it on the go.

"You can't come." deadpanned Ivan. "I will be doing loads of research and moving from one place to another. Besides, I'm not certain about how much time it will take for me to come back."

"Goddammit, Ivan..."

Ivan stepped towards his dear sibbling. His right hand landed on his shoulder. "It will be fine, Dirk. We have always been fine, and she will soon be when I find a cure for her."

...

"How can you be so sure...?"

"You care about her as well, don't you?"

"You know I do."

The broken teacher sighed. "Then, you understand I have to leave. I've phoned the school to warn them, Felix as well and Freya, too. I will write you cards so you know about my whereabouts."

"You..."

"Dirk?"

The brunette was at the verge of crying, but bit his tears back. "Yeah?"

Ivan smiled. "Take care of her for me, will you? If she wakes up, tell her everything."

"Everything...?'

"That I'm gone." explained the other. "That I'll be back for her soon. And, that when feeling lonely, she can look at her photo book and remember all the good times. I'm sure that everything that lies inside willl cheer her up."

"Brother, I..." he couldn't form a coherent sentence and that unnerved him. "I'll miss you so freaking much, Ivan... But if you were in Anita's situation, or Antoinette was, I'd react similarly."

"Dirk..."

"Just-" the waiter shook a tear away. "just be safe, okay? Breathe some air and take your time. All of us will be waiting for you here."

Ivan approached him and embraced his little brother tight, not wanting to let go yet knowing he had to for Anita's sake. Albeit regretfully after hearing Dirk sob a bit, he pulled away rather quickly.

"O-okay, I'll pull myself together now." muttered a peachy Dirk. "As soon as Anita wakes up or makes any significant change, I'll write you."

"You will be fine, Dirk. You are responsible enough."

Dirk nodded in agreement and watched his brother part for the door with his blood stuck in his heart, tense and waiting. Ivan opened the door and, before leaving for good, flashed a hopeful smile to Dirk.

It was then when he knew.

Ivan would come back.

And he would bring salvation with him.

Ivan stared at the path ahead of him with great impression. This is where his work started, but he saw no end to it. And, mind you, he didn't care. Curing Anita was the most important thing now.

So, before starting his journey, he glanced back at the village and dedicated a small smile to think about the man he would become for the village.

"It depends on me now, Zephyr Town. She depends on me."

"Goodbye, Town of the Winds."

* * *

 **Yeah. He's leaving :D**

 **I'll get to edit this as soon as I have time, I promise D: And if the line break at the start didn't show, it's because the fanfiction editor doesn't seem to like me much.**


	12. Unsettling

**So... how you doin'? :)**

* * *

 _Dear Ivan,_

 _How is it all going around there? I hope you're doing okay. It's been just a few weeks since your departure, but I guess it'll be a month after you receive this. You're just too far away!_

 _I should have written sooner, but I didn't want to disturb you._

 _Anita's doing rather ok. Her fever is still persistent, but she's trying to fight it so badly. Man, you should see her. She's seething for the fever to go down! Anita's sure a tough cookie._

 _I'm watching after her, just as I promised. I've also given some books to Cindy and Lauren to make up for lost time. They don't mind your absence that much considering you're seeking help for Anita._

 _The whole village is supporting you and will always receive you if you need any help._

 _Waiting for you here, Dirk._

* * *

Ivan worked his back off at daytime looking for books and medical expertise to aid his searching.

He would come to his hotel room with a pile of books and Ivan would read them from beginning to end and take notes.

However, since he had no Anita to make trials on – try some pills, some herbs, any kind of ointments, whatever – he didn't have any sort of base.

He was kind of clueless on where to search.

* * *

 _Dear Dirk,_

 _I'm grateful for hearing from you. It makes me wonder how you knew where to send your letters to me if I'm always going from one place to another._

 _That's not the point, though._

 _My investigations are quite fruitless at the moment. I'm not very experienced with medicine of any kind. It may be my one weakness during this journey._

 _I am, however, eager to keep on looking. I know the answer is out there, somewhere I don't know of yet. I'm tired for today anyway, so I will try to get some sleep and revise these books I have later tomorrow._

 _And there's nothing you need to worry. Well, you or the whole village. I'm just relieved knowing Anita is holding on. When I get back, she'll heal._

 _I will try to come back as soon as soon as possible._

 _\- Ivan_.

* * *

Dirk watched how Anita convulsioned under a predicament that Claire classified as _normal._

He knew she was trying to keep her cool, but for how long would that be good to the situation?

Today, he stared at the lingering snowflake imprinted on her neck, still wondering how she got that on her skin.

* * *

 _Dear Ivan, (god, it's been a while)_

 _How are you holding up? I reckon you are up to the north of the country, aren't you? Man, you must have been making a bunch of friends! I don't know how you would still be alive on your own._

 _I'm glad to know you're fine. Anita would be so proud of you if she heard how strong you are being now._

 _I received your letter a few days ago and read it to Anita as she slept in front of me. As you know, that is a rare sight, so I made the best of it and talked to her a bit. Nellie said it was good for Anita to feel accompained even in her comatose state._

 _I'm sure she misses you even being so knocked out of it. You know, that about being soulmates and that stuff. But she seemed at peace as I read the letter, even if she started sweating and shaking again a few hours later._

 _We got some improvement there!_

 _By the way, did you know about Anita's weird tattoo on her neck? I don't know where she got it done – yeah, it's a pretty one, but it's so out of character coming from Anita. Strange, huh?_

 _I'm hoping to see you soon, Dirk._

* * *

Ivan sat in a bus, head against the pane with his mind drifting towards no where. A pale woman sat by him, hands on her lap in a shy demeanor.

The teacher just looked at her from the corner of his eyesight and sighed. A chill ran up his spine – Autumn was approaching them.

At the next stop, he went into a shop to buy new clothes. His previous ones were getting dusty.

* * *

 _Dear Dirk,_

 _I'm eager to go to the National Library in the north coast of the country. I'm hoping to answer most of my questions there. However, most of my minor discoveries were made in universities and local libraries. The north one is... bigger._

 _I will be making a round route, so that when I arrive to said library, I will take a route back to Zephyr Town. I should be there by the end of the year, because I like staying for a week or so in each town so I make sure I don't miss anything valuable._

 _I'm sorry I am not writing much. I should be doing that considering I am the one who knows where to send this letter. Still, my investigations consume all my hours, so I have little time to write you._

 _But, as you can see – or read – I try to make them complete._

 _I have found some useful ointments that could lessen her fever, and pills for her sleep. It's not much, but this could help Claire and Nellie, so I will send you some samples for them to try. You'll get them a week or so after I send this letter._

 _They are at their best condition given how much time I've dedicated to improving them. They will not rot either!_

 _And, regarding your questions about the tattoo, I have seen it. I caught a glimpse of it the night I went to make up with her. I couldn't inquire about it since she started a coughing fit._

 _What does it look like? I don't remember much of it. I am so giddy knowing Anita is feeling alright._

 _Make sure she gets some sleep, will you?_

 _\- Ivan_

* * *

Dirk didn't take out Anita's livestock because of the storm outside, but he collected her crops in her underground orchard and fed Nessie with her sweet food. After that, he put on his scarf and big jacket to work his shift at Joan's café.

He bid Anita goodnight, promised to come back at eight o'clock and left into the cold storm.

He blew heat to his hands, rubbing them with caution. That day was the third month anniversary since Ivan's departure.

And man, didn't he miss him.

* * *

 _Dear Ivan,_

 _Congratulations on your remarkable discoveries! We received your ointments and pills a few days ago, and they worked! But their effect don't last for very long. It is a big help, though!_

 _Anita went through a mind-crashing crises a few days ago before taking her medicine. She trashed around and convulsioned for a whole hour. It still amazes me how long she is lasting. Sometimes she is on the edge, others she is fine and sometimes she remains completely quiet and still for days._

 _Something is making her hold onto her life. I'm not sure if this has a deadline, though._

 _... that was lame._

 _And I took my sweet time examining the mark on her neck. It's blue with silver outilines and some sparks to it. I am not really sure if this happened or not: but it seemed to shine while she threw her sick tantrum._

 _I'm sure it was just a illusion because of the sunshine peering through the courtains. It just gleamed for a second in my eyes. Do you know something related with this?_

 _I don't think there's much time left, Ivan... Anita's losing it little by little, and we need you back! I didn't want to say this, but we need your help and presence in case she... falters._

 _And no, I'm not insinuating she's at her critical point now. Being frank, she has always been there, but I just need you here... just if she wakes up._

 _It's been so long and she has murmured things in her sleep. With things I mean yoir name among others, but yours above all._

 _Please come back, Dirk._

 _PS: I am keeping some presents to give you when you get back. Your birthday passed already, but I have presents to give you when you come back._

* * *

Ivan lay his cheek on his hand, staring at the piece of paper that Dirk had written what seemed like a few weeks ago, at the end of Fall.

And now they were at Winter's mid season. Time flies fast when you are searching for a cure. Happy birthday for him, let's say. He already blew a candle on a cupcake days ago.

Even if knowing Anita was struggling to survive irked him, he stared pointedly at the part about her snowflake. Ivan didn't know why, but it interested him so much.

Again, he didn't know why. To distract his troublesome thoughts, he wrote a response. It went like this:

* * *

 _Dear Dirk,_

 _I'd be very thankful if you sent me some kind of drawing or photo of her mark. Something about this calls my attention._

 _It unnerves me to know she's so weak and hopeless, but don't lose hope. She's strong enough. I'll be there to kick her into consciense soon. In a month or so._

 _I keep searching for items that can make my treatments better, and I'm sending some new samples with this. Make sure Claire checks this in case I've done something wrong. I hope not!_

 _And just make sure she lasts for a little longer! I will make it there soon._

 _I am writing this in the National Library, it's where I am searching for references for new medicines. I am making progress for once! It was a good idea to come here. There's nice people here who are willing to help._

 _It makes me angry when they see the situation adorable. It's not. She is in danger, and I can't tolerate those who see this as cute. No._

 _It will be when she's healed._

 _For now, send me that photo and answer soon. By the time you receive this letter, I will be making my way back. You know, the route I told you about._

 _I hope you will receive this before New Years' Eve. I was hoping to get there before that, but it won't be possible. Many people, many places – which means, lots of resources!_

 _\- Ivan_

* * *

Dirk stood at the town square with a champagne glass on hand, staring at the square clock with a distant glance. Everyone was having fun, passing by him in a blur.

He, however, bid the yeat goodbye with a sour feeling in the pit of his stomach, growing day by day.

Freta stopped to talk with him.

"Ivan promised to sort this out." she cut in. Her hair was shorter than ever, brushing on her shoulders. "He will be back whenever he considers it good."

Dirk's hair was a little longer than before. It was properly combed and fell evenly straight on his face. His magenta jacket hid his new clothes. "I know, Freya. But..."

He remembered Anita.

"...when will that happen?"

She fell silent, staring at the clock as well. Dirk spoke up again.

"She's dying, Freya. Convulsioning and going paranoid day by day. Tell me, when will we realize it would be better to end her pain and-"

Freya almost hit him square on the face. She only scowled. "Don't dare to say that! If she has lasted this long, she can keep going for a bit more!"

He sighed.

"Freya..."

"Just- Just have faith, okay?" her hands clasped together. "It's the only thing we have left."

That night, he felt like praying, too.

* * *

 _Dear Ivan,_

 _Anita's tattoo looks exactly like I drew it. Well, Angelo did. But that's besides the point. Any bells ringing?_

 _Please, come back soon. Anita is only getting worse and we don't know how much time she has left._

 _Make it here on time, Dirk._

* * *

Ivan read the letter over and over, tears streaming down his face. Yeah, he knew Anita was dying, he had known all along.

It's just- it's horrible to admit the truth while he was away. So he cried again like he had done during the first days of his journey.

He would never admit that out loud.

His shoulders shook while keeping his tears at bay. He analyzed the drawing again.

Goddamit, he had seen that somewhere. Somehow, someday, he had seen that! It had shone as well, just as Dirk had said it did when Anita went crazy – another tear.

He looked at it accusingly. Something told him it was its fault, that Anita was suffering because of this, that she was dying because of–

 _Shoot_.

The snowflake. At the beginning of the year... and Anita knew all along. That's why...

Oh my god.

" _Oh my god." he breathed out, anxiety taking over him. He grasped a paper clumsily and stared writing._

* * *

 _Dear Dirk,_

 _I need you to keep Anita sane. I'm coming back and will be there for Spring's mid season. Wait for me and make sure Claire and Nellie do their best._

 _I think I have a solution. Wait for me._

 _\- Ivan._

* * *

Dirk stared. Read again. Stared.

* * *

 _Dear Ivan,_

 _What is it? Did the bulb finally light up? What does she have? Hurry your ass back, will you?_

 _What do you consider to be the problem?_

 _Waiting, Dirk._

* * *

Dirk only received a curt answer without greetings and signing. The only assurance that it came from Ivan was the sender written at the back of the letter.

It was a confusing conclusion.

* * *

 _I am afraid we have been giving the medicine to the wrong person._

* * *

 **I wanted to cut down to the chase. If I made it sickenly sweet I would have made it boring. So I am writing this as some kind of filler so you know what happens. You could have lived without this.**

 **We're finally discovering what's wrong! YAH And, ergo, coming to and end of the story!**


	13. Restart

**Updating earlier because I feel like it and I have enough free time! We're getting closer to the end – if we don't end this next chapter, we will the one after.**

 **Stay tuned~!**

* * *

Ivan entered the town being the same person he was when he exited it. His heart had stayed the whole time accompaining his beloved's one. He wouldn't have it any other way than that.

When he stepped in, time resetted again and Earth spun again at the rythm of his cheer and delight. His brand new trench green jacket flew across the wind, guarding over his purple jersey. His straight jeans felt comfortable, as did his new shoes he got a few weeks ago.

Now, he felt young! His clothes were pretty worn out. But, first things first, he had someone to talk to. _Urgently_.

He had arrived the exact date he had adressed in his last letter to Dirk: Spring, 6th. Ivan guessed all villagers had been warned by the surely overexcited brother, yet he sure expected some hugs and _welcome backs_ on his way.

In said letter he ordered Dirk to make Claire and Nellie stay at Anita's a week prior to his return. Ivan also specified that they must, above anything else – things like eating, sleeping and breathing – keep constant vigilance on Anita so she was monitored at every moment just in case something snapped inside of her.

Ivan insisted on people staying at home that day. It seemed rather ridiculous, – that's why he was expecting people to come out despite his orders to stay in – but it was a safety measure. The Mayor had understood said order and commanded them to do so. At least, that's what Dirk had said in his last response. The only ones who were out from home were Nellie and Claire – he hoped.

The air felt heavy.

And tasted like steel. Something was going on.

He, unfazed by the weird conditions and decided to get things solved for once and for all, marched through the Hotel area without disturbance. Everyone was gone into their houses.

The downtown area was also empty, as was the waterfall area. Everybody had complied to his commands. Sweet momentum of glory for Ivan, who had conquered a difficult part of his mission.

But the one ahead... oh, boy. That was gonna be tough.

Even if a year had passed since then, Ivan knew the path to his destination. It was easy: walk by the rived, climb to the platform behind the stream that cascaded down and get into the hole. It was a easy task. As he padded in, the boy got the same chills of anticipation as the first time.

But it was infounded by another feeling.

Light shone to his face to later dim out of his sight, giving clear view to Emiko's lair. It was all as he remembered: river flowing beneath his feet, the stone path ahead and the torched being consumed by fire. The same mist lingered in the air, now almost suffocating. Someone seemed to be hiding.

And said person must have know he was coming.

Ivan walked through the mist, path and water. He eventually got to her wood shrine and barged in with caution, trying not to look like a brute. His heart was feeling like a brute, though, beating out of normal cadences.

Goddamit.

He couldn't bear the nervousness creeping in his stomach. He kept his head held up high.

"You."

The ever so beautiful girl turned around with delicate gestures, somewhat surprised. Emiko still held the same stone glance she had at their first meeting.

And, glaring at her neck, he knew he had been right all along.

"Hello." greeted she, void of emotion. "It's nice to see you again... Ivan."

"Emiko."

He almost spit to her name. This drew her attention, given she rose her eyebrows at his tone. This gave him some sort of confidence – it was difficult to tear her apart.

"Tell me," his hands became tight fists as he spoke. "tell me, Emiko."

She only stared.

"For how long have you had _this_ going on!?"

That was the moment in which he snapped. His wires gave up under the pressure, consequently electrocuting him intensely. Never had he felt such anger–

No.

He was beyond livid at this point. And no one has ever seen him so outraged.

"What is said _this_ you are talking about?" questioned she. Ivan gritted his teeth when he saw a smile trying to tug her lips.

Manipulative little minx.

He took a step forward. "C'mon Emiko, stop pretending! This little façade of yours stopped working sometime ago!"

Emiko frowned slightly, almost unnoticable. But he did notice.

"I'm still unsure of what you are speaking of-"

"For how long, Emiko?"

She seemed taken aback by his low voice. It was a grunt, a boy spitting at her. Emiko gave him silence, because it was all he deserved and–

"... for how long have you been ill, Emiko?"

His eyes never rose to meet hers.

And then,

heard _thunder_ outside of the lair.

Ivan advanced, making her go backwards. He was resolved to sort all the mess out and put an end to it all. Whatever it took.

And now, there went his explanation. _Breathe in_ –

"You _are_ sick, stop pretending. I should have known the moment I saw you, looking so pale and delicate." he told her, not expecting any kind of answer. "I guess that's why you are here, aren't you? So secluded from the outside. I've never seen you outside."

She muted, waiting to see where his story went.

He coughed. "One can guess it's the mist what keeps you healthy enough, right? It sometimes gets misty outside as well, above all at night. I guess it's all your doing, isn't it? The weather must be very playful tonight..."

Emiko grimaced. "Stop."

"...you must want people to go away and possibly die, huh?"

"I said stop!"

His breath was knocked out of his lungs instantly with her demand. Her feelings controlled the environment, creating disruptions all around him. The boy suddenly felt out of energy.

...but Ivan blatantly ignored her. He even dared to step nearer. "I can understand your hatred towards people considering how nobody every shows up here. Not even give you offers through the pond near the Mayor's house. They..."

His voice lowered some notches more.

"...they forgot about you, didn't they?"

Her eyes looked at her dress, fidgeting with their inner turmoil. She ghostly nodded in agreement.

"Oblivion hurts. I can feel your pain even kilometres away." well, he actually didn't, but it enhanced his knowledge. "And I guess that the Bazaar's misery has a lot to do with you, right? Knowing that making storms striking the town won't make them leave, maybe destroying their main source of prosperity will do?"

She fisted the fabric of her dress. " _It didn't_."

 _Bingo_.

His face shadowed into ire, hair and eyes cast into the distance. "Is that why..."

He couldn't believe he was gonna do such strong accusation, but there he went.

"Is that why Anita had to pay!?"

Thunder.

"Tell me, Emiko, and don't you even dare to deny this because I know about your schemes and all of that! Cut it out, will you!?"

Emiko grimaced internally. Her face dig into his heart, searching for any weaking points where she could strike... but left empty handed.

"I know it all. It just took me a few moments to put all the pieces together and figure out the little scheme you have going on with Anita. And your first failure was to sign all your crimes with the same symbol."

Her eyes hesitsantly looked into his. Emiko regretted doing that the moment she saw his will to kill her the instant she moved or went against him.

He pointed to her neck. " _The snowflake_. It's your symbol as a nymph, the very mark one can see at the entrance of the lair, just at their feet. The same one Anita has on her neck and you casually have on yours."

Emiko caressed her mark gingerly.

He stared at her, drinking from her discovered stand and trying to understand what she was feeling now. Was it sorrow? Or maybe the pain of being found out?

"You're wilting like a flower. Or, more like you _were_ wilting, since all the vitality you lose comes back to you through Anita." explained Ivan with venom. "What is to say, you're draining Anita's strength into yourself through that mark."

He didn't even question himself.

Ivan knew it was the truth. He would make her swallow her mistakes whatever the costs.

"You only got weaker and weaker, the mist wasn't enough for you. You were alone in this little place, full of mist to keep you alive enough to walk and feel. But, out of the blue, Anita discovers this paradise. I wonder how it must have felt to receive a visitor after so long– after years of solitude. The world forgot about the ill deity to then grant you with a new friend."

"It was..." she trailed off. "...nice."

"Of course, I'll believe you through and thorough. Sadly, you didn't consider company enough, didn't you? You knew she would forget about you eventually, just as everyone did." explained the teacher.

"And you found that the only way you could win over the situation was to actually take advantage of her."

Emiko blinked, speechless.

"You marked her with the seal so that not only she would have a memento of you, but you could also steal strength from her to keep on being alive and maybe carry your little revenge on the town more effectively. So that everyone who forgot about you would pay for your oblivion."

Ivan saw her irk at his pointed edge in his town. He was so angry, so hellishly murderous and repulsed at this woman that he could end her existence there and for all.

"Besides, what better than the Bazaar's spirit to tear the town apart? Make all of us worry to death. Scarring us emotionally while you started thinking about destroying us phisically with whatever plan you had."

"Was last tempest your doing? Something tells me it was."

Emiko, feeling so little for once in her life compared to somebody else, cringed. He had busted her so badly.

"I know there's a lot more to uncover. Something like when you killed the Mayor's wife, or drove Daisy's parents away from her. If driving people away from the Bazaar with storms in their way, inspiring their souls to get away from here and causing most of our weather disasters, you also kill people."

She snapped when he brought the subject up. "I NEVER-"

"WHY DID THEY HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR OBLIVION? THEY WERE ANOTHER GENERATION OF PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T LIVE TO SEE YOU FADE!"

He stepped to her, cautious not to scream at her face. Ivan wanted to take her and drown the nymph at the nearest river he had at hand.

He let go of the scum he considered her to be. "You paid your revenge game with the wrong person. You made the mistake of playing with a person I hold dear to me, and with the lives of who knows how many." he deadpanned.

Emiko dared to speak for once. "They had to pay anyway. That is how universe works." she even _smiled_ at herself. "It's only fair for it to unfold this way."

"It's only fair for you!" yelled he above his temper, hitting the roof. "You're draining her strength, consequently _torturing_ her by keeping her alive?"

"Oh, aren't you thankful for that, lover boy?"

He was the one taken aback this time. His own words actually betrayed him. "I am, but not really if its only purpose is to keep your puppet functional. I suppose that if the puppet dies, so does the user."

 _"Fair enough."_ consented Emiko with some resent.

"I also suppose that you had just started when she fainted at the Bazaar, then made the technique better – which gave her the span of days to be healthy – in a few days time and, after that, made her succumb to your seal." theorized he on the go. "If this suits you, I'm done. I am aware of your other more schemes apart from murder and kidnapping, but you wouldn't want me to spread the word, wouldn't you?"

Emiko curtly shook her head, a single question in her head so washed off that it seemed like bleach had made its way into her brain. Breathless was the word and silence was its pronuntiation. "How did you...?"

"I only put one and one together, in all honesty. Considering your personal background, I only had to bring all disappearances and tragedies to the picture and connect the dots. It seemed too drastic and preposterous to think that a dainty girl like you could do that, but..."

"...after some thought, it made so much sense. Hurt can make somebody twist into a terrible monster, which matches you perfectly. I am most damaged because of Anita, though."

That, beyond nobody's understandment.

"I see." stated she in a dead tone. He observed how the tattoo was sparkling, just like Dirk had pointed out in one if his letters.

"You are doing your thing." he didn't even ask, deeming it painfully obvious. She nodded.

"If you don't want me to spread the word about your murdering and kidnapping spree, you should erase that imprinting and let her breathe again."

"I'll die if I-"

"Not anymore."

Ivan took out a very familiar jar full of marbles– _soy_ marbles. "I heard Anita was always out of comission searching for these amounts of soy you requested her to fetch. And I read these have cleansing properties if eaten under certain conditions. I guessed that if you want them so badly is because you _believe_ this will cure you somehow."

Emiko took the jar from him with great care, eyes sparkling. She had her medicine right in front of her. No more artificial soy pudding– welcome, natural soy! She made smiled slightly. "I do need this..."

"Do we have a deal?"

Emiko looked at the jar with love, feeling already attached to her salvation. The nymph nodded. " _Kieru_."

And the annoying link disappeared from Emiko's skin, leaving her neck spotless and pale as the moon. "I owe you my sincere thanks."

"I don't share the feeling." he still felt disgusted towards her, but he would at least conceal it for a bit longer. "I am, however, glad we could reach an agreement. Make sure this doesn't happen again."

"It won't."

His anxiety surfaced after remembering whole-heartedly about the situation outside. "Does this mean Anita will be alright now?"

"Unless she is infected by another disease, I believe so." answered Emiko.

A huge, _huge_ weight was lifted off his shoulders and Ivan finally felt at ease with the world again. Even she, the ever so motionless deity noticed his worries leaving his mind. It was like fresh summer air smacking her.

And it was... a nice feeling.

"Ah, that is reassuring." smiled Ivan finally, stepping back to leave. "I will let you be for now, but if I hear this happends again with anybody else, I'll..."

Emiko giggled. It was amusing to see her so in-character after their heated confrontation minutes before. "I know. Goodbye, Ivan."

He nodded. "Farewell, Emiko."

And with that, the world continued spinning while Anita recovered her breath after a year of battling against herself and Emiko.

For once, the world kept his silence as it restored its harmony. Just like that, life begun again.

* * *

 **I was so fucking inspired I lost track of time. This turned out to be pretty neat, right? I reckon you weren't expecting this! It is shorter than it seems. That's what you get with early updates!**

 **I always had this theory that Emiko was there for a reason, not just a standby side character. I made the math and got a good conclusion for this. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!**

 **Credits will roll next chapter. For now, see you soon!**


	14. Reborn (I Part)

**IT'S BEEN SO FREAKING LONG AND I HAVEN'T PUBLISHED A FINALE YET. OOOO MY GOD. These are the perks of having such a large span of time for myself.**

 **Ah, whatever.**

 **I reckon it's time for me to wrap this up and give out little lovebirds some good times to relieve all the pain they went through. MY BABIES.**

 **I'll divide this in two so you don't have a seizure over its length. Have fun!**

* * *

It had been ages since he had had such a good night. Seemingly, all nights of sheer exhaustion and desperation collapsed on him and knocked Ivan into a deep night of straight slumber. He stirred, still on the bed and tucked in like a baby.

If it were his choice to make, he would stay in for another year and never wake up. Just some kind of hibernation to make up for lost sanity. Alas, Ivan knew that he hadn't made all that effort just to stay in forever. His school was waiting for him to come back after the longest of times replacing him with substitutes.

Apart from that, Dirk wouldn't have any of that. When he saw him get home after his confrontation with Emiko, them both saw stars. They hugged so tightly for so long that both almost fainted out of blood overpressuring. But God forbid him of that hadn't felt good. Sensing another person's warmth after so long.

Ivan had also some things to sort out with Freya. He had left without telling her. Dirk had surely told her his reasons for leaving, otherwise she would have been left in the dark. She knew his reasons... he hoped.

And of course there was that special person waiting for him awaiting in the little cottage in the outskirts of the town. Just picturing her smile made him all squishy inside.

Ah, he felt old.

That's why he got the scare of his life when he heard the door being knocked on to somebody's content. He had been on the verge of sleeping again, but now he would have to answer the door. Dirk was out with Antoinette if he was correct, and he wouldn't come back until early evening.

Ivan rubbed his eyes and yawned while getting up and buttoning up his shirt. He was adquiring this awful habit of sleeping with his shirt mid-done, consequently getting wrinkled to the point of disaster.

He was finished with his quick dress-up when he opened the door. He had expected Felix at his door to welcome him back, or Claire and Nellie to do so and tell him about Anita, or Lloyd to pat his back and welcome him back as well.

None of the mentioned happened.

He glanced down at a teary Freya who paled upon seeing him. Her eyes widened to a big extent, as if she hadn't expected him to actually be there. Freya stepped back, striken by shock.

"Oh my... God." she managed to say, as if gasping for air. A hand flew to her mouth, then the other one. "Ivan... is that...?"

Clearly she was upset because of his departure a year prior to that moment. Ivan felt tragically akward, so he simply waved his hand with a deep weird smile. "...good day, Freya. How did-"

She didn't even wait for him to finish. Instead, she rushed to him and slammed her quivering body onto his chest, crying and battling her fists against him. "Where did you go!?" screamed she frantically, sobbing. "YOU LEFT ME ALONE, IVAN! YOU LEFT DIRK ALONE! YOU... you..."

Freya calmed down rather quickly. Her ire vanished, faded, leaving her in a weak state.

"I missed you... so much. And... I bet you didn't have the... the slightest idea." mumbled she. "God, Ivan... I... I..."

Ivan sighed. "I know, Freya..."

The blonde wrapped his arms around her, a hand on her back and the other one caressing her hair, like he used to do years ago when she was upset.

"Trust me, I know."

* * *

Ivan caressed Freya's strands softly as she slept quietly in his chest after half an hour of wailing and screaming at him. It had been more like a counseling session and not a reunion, but it had been enough for the day being.

She had reiterated that she initially understood – as Dirk had stated that he was doing it for Anita, and that was to be expected. Freya and Anita had been very good friends, so she was likely to be his first supporter. She was smart woman, and knew he left to help Anita.

However... friendship was another story. If he heard that Freya was leaving he wouldn't throw such a tantrum. Still, he would be upset, just as she sure had been. She accordingly kind of threw her ire to him, stuffed it into his throat and fell asleep after reasoning and remembering that, again, he had left for Anita's sake.

He had been so focused on calming her down that he didn't even ask about the farmer's health. Ivan waited for Freya to wake up while reading a book and eyeing her hair.

"So... short hair, huh?"

So much time had passed, and he didn't know how to make up for lost time yet.

* * *

"Did you get to see any interesting places?"

Ivan took a sip of his Fall tea. "I did. There were many beautiful coasts and parks around the nation. Actually, if I hadn't been in such a hurry, I would've stayed for a bit longer."

"Such a shame!" sighed Marian. "Didn't you take any photos?"

Teacher made a sound. "In fact, I did." he took a bunch of photographs and handed them to Joan. Lauren and Cindy peered from their seats. "They aren't much."

Cindy took one of them with sparkling eyes. "Ooooo! This is very pretty!"

Ivan recognized the photo and chuckled. "Ah, yes, that one is quite good. I had never seen such a beautiful sunset in a long time."

Joan looked at each of them with a tender smile, eyeing him from time to time. There was a particular shine to her eye whenever their gazes met. Ivan knew what she was thinking about, but she beat him to speaking out loud.

"Ah, I'm sure Anita would have loved to see these."

That made him get tense like a fishrod. "Hold on, what do you mean with that?"

All the girls in the room shared some worried glances. Marian gripped her mug of coffee. "She's unconscious since last night. Claire reported that her convulsions died down and she remained still all night long."

Seeing his expression, the young sibblings cringed. He blinked twice. "So... I take it she's alright now?"

Marian took her time before speaking, which put Ivan on the edge of his seat. She tapped her fingers against the mug, as if meditating her answer. The blonde avoided meeting his eyes, so curious and worried at the same time.

"She will wake up soon." deadpanned she. "But I don't know if she's going to wake up anytime soon. Neither do the doctors or the Mayor."

"So she's... stable?" wondered Ivan. He titled his head slightly, kind of afraid of an answer. He was enormously relieved about Anita's stability – however, he was afraid of any little detail that could alter his relief.

"She is!" exclaimed Cindy. Lauren nodded accordingly. "Isn't that great?"

"Does that mean that-"

Joan frowned. "No, Ivan, you can't go visit her."

"Eh? Why not?" Ivan gritted his teeth. "I've been away for too long! It's only fair that-"

"Ivan." she put her hands on his trembling right one. "She's being observed all the time. None of us have been able to see her, but Claire has told us she's fine now. They don't want any nuisances now that she's on the right road."

"Simply put, they are trying to get her to her normal state as soon as possible. They won't waste any time with visitors." Joan said. She took all the empty plates on the counter a few steps behind.

Ivan sighed and ruffled his own hair, stressed out. He was a bit too eager to see her, even if she wouldn't answer all his questions or listen to his ramblings. Just her presence would have been enough. "Ah, whatever."

"I'm sure you will see her very soon. Just wait a little bit longer." assured Cindy. "In the meantime, you can come to this little party we're throwing tonight at the square!"

"Huh...? Which party?"

* * *

It turns out the Mayor had decided to organize a tiny event to celebrate Ivan's return home. Even if it had caught Ivan off guard and he would have liked to stay in, Freya had insisted on him going because, of course, it was his night!

It took her a lot of time to convince him, but he broke eventually and gave in. He could take advantage of the ocassion and catch up with the townsfolk. Lots of things had happened according to Dirk, and he sure needed to stay tuned. He was a teacher, yes, and a very serious one too. However, Ivan had missed his friends and he hadn't seen none of them.

Besides, a little dose of gossip was healthy once in a while.

Ivan took a glass and poured some red wine in. There was a wide variety of sweets, snacks and sandwiches on various tables, almost unable to be seen under the dim light of the streetlamps.

"It's been a long time."

Ivan turned around and almost choked while swallowing the drink. "Goodness grac-ious, Lloyd!" he coughed a bit. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry for that." judging by Lloyd's face, he wasn't that sorry. He had that stupid smile tugging his lips. "I couldn't help it."

The first thing that Ivan noticed was that his hair was a bit shorter and he wasn't wearing glasses anymore. His turban was still crowning his head, and he was clad in his trademark loose clothes. The most remarkable difference was how at ease he seemed: while he would always show a constant poker face to the world, Lloyd looked rather relaxed compared to his general stiffness a year back.

"Where are your glasses?" asked Ivan, a hand in his pocket and the other holding his wine. "Did you throw them out the window after a tough day?"

Lloyd chuckled and approached the table behind Ivan. The latter stepped aside to let him pass. "Actually," he poured some wine. Lloyd offered some to his friend, which he rejected. "this is a pretty recent change. I accidentally broke them last week during a Bazaar day: I left them on the counter and one of my ores fell on them."

Ivan smiled. "I am truthfully sorry for your loss. I bet you two were close."

Lloyd punched his arm playfully. "Gimme a break, will you? I've been awfully busy lately and I got distracted."

"That's new." mused Ivan, looking at his wine. "As far as I'm concerned, you used to be skillful at your job."

He eyed Lloyd and followed his friend's gaze. His eyes landed on a certain redhead. "Snap out of it, Lloyd." the raven haired tensed up. "We are trying to have a conversation and I would appreciate that you had the decency to, at least, listen to me."

"Stop sounding so chiding." sighed the merchant. "I was just searching for the Mayor. I-I wasn't-"

"You haven't told Sherry yet?" moked the teacher with a mean hue to his voice. "I thought you two would be already married for the time I came back."

Lloyd went to rise his glasses – a weird thing he did when he was embarassed or frustrated – but he ended up touching the bridge of his nose. Ivan didn't notice that slip. "We had our dates and trips to the city. We haven't talked about _us_ yet."

"Then you aren't in a relationship, at least yet." said Ivan. He drank from his cup. "I hope you confess to her soon. You both would make a great couple."

Lloyd laughed quietly. "I'm not so sure about that, but I will try my best to sort this out."

Ivan sighed in contentment, looking at the reflection of the moon on the red liquid. Red liquid that, mind you, would do wonders to his lips.

Despite his general giddyness, the ambient about him was kind of eerie. The wind blew through his tresses gently, moving the belt that hung from his new green denim jacket. His heart rocked with the wind softly in a relaxing lullably.

However... his mind was restless. Everything around him unfolded in slow motion while his brain went crazy as it tried to place his being in its belonging place. Ivan still needed to asume that, finally, he was home– and no, he wouldn't leave ever again.

"It's good to be back." muttered he, rocking the cup as the wine crashed against the glass.

His brows wrinkled slightly. Ivan looked to the sky, missing a certain someone by his side. _"Anita..."_

A sweet laugh corrupted his train of nostalgic thinking. His glance sunk from the sky to Sherry's shaking form at something that Daisy had said, apparently. She seemed to be looking at Lloyd with the same spark that he had looked at her with.

Ivan smirked mischievously and eyed Lloyd, taking a final sip from his glass. "I think she's beckoning you to go to her."

Lloyd drank from his cup as well, looking at his lover from the corner of his eyes. "I see." he smiled to his friend. "I'll catch you later, Ivan. I shouldn't make a lady wait."

"I will be waiting for that." responded he amusedly, seeing how Sherry and Lloyd ignited upon seeing each other. He chuckled – it wouldn't take much more pushes for them to be together.

After losing his friend out of sight, he searched for his brother through the crowd. Eventually, he spotted Dirk's magenta hat amidst all the citizens. Ivan poured some more wine and padded towards the dock in front of Raul's shop, where Dirk sat. His feet dangled above the tranquil waters.

The younger brother heard the footsteps near him as Ivan approached him. He sat by him. "It's not usual to see you so alienated from the crowd, even less considering the ocassion."

"Sorry, I needed a little bit of time to breath." Dirk moved his head a bit to undo the tension in his mind. "Ugh, I don't really enjoy such full places, y'know."

"Neither do I. But I'm having a good time nonetheless."

Dirk chuckled and looked at Ivan with tenderness. "I'm so glad to see you again, brother." the oldest one of them looked at the youngest. "It's been too long."

"I know." Ivan sighed. That was his 5-star answer because it got him out of complex explanations all the time. He wouldn't dwell too much onto the remorse he constantly felt after his departure, even if he was already back. "I am eager to get back to my life prior to this mess."

Dirk picked his glass, hidden by his side, and offered a toast. They clinked their glasses and took a sip. After that, Ivan had a lingering question on the tip of his tongue, one that he had been struggling with after his chat with Joan and co. at the cafeteria earlier that morning.

"Say, Dirk..." the brunette looked from the river to his brother. "Have you been able to visit Anita?"

Dirk shook his head adamantly, remembering the previous day. "Not at all. Claire and Nellie refused to let anyone in..."

Both sibblings sighed, defeated.

"They told me she's fine, though." he said through a bashful smile. "So I guess they will let us in someday...!"

Ivan ran a hand through his face and hair, suddenly a little tired. "Yes, I have been told about that as well." he smiled in a heartfelt way. "I will try to convince them to let me in."

Dirk rose an eyebrow. "It wouldn't be that fair to let you in while us all can't even get a glance." he then laughed sheepishly. "But, to be honest, it would make sense if you were allowed to. You saved her, after all."

Ivan's brain clicked at hearing that. Did he seriously think so highly of him? Or, did everybody think so highly of him? He hadn't done much, really! Yes, he had the brains, but not the heroism they all considered him to have! He was glad to hear that everyone knew he had done something for her, but he hadn't really _saved_ her!

"I most certainly did _not_ save her!" spoke he loudly. "I just took so long thinking a proper solution to her illness. You really shouldn't think of me as a hero of some sort."

"Ivan, you _are_ her savior!" argued Dirk with a grim, tight smile after remembering what the past year had been like. "I can't even understand how you don't feel like a hero for all you have done."

Ivan sank in his place. He kicked his feet slightly at the superior thought of being a hero. His humbleness couldn't load such positive considerations to his matrix. But... now that he thought about it...

What would Anita think about it? Was she aware of his little adventure searching for the infamous cure? Had she been listening to him when, before his journey, he rambled on and on about how much he loved her? Would she slap the world out of him, like Freya, because she actually noticed his absence?

"I don't fancy being showered with affection to this extent." murmured the teacher. "Everyone has changed so much, yet so little. I like thinking time has stopped here and everything lies where I last left it. Alas, lots of things tell me otherwise."

Dirk put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We missed you– a lot more than we'd admit out loud. We never forgot you."

"I'm aware of that." he said. "The same way you never left my mind, I know I never left yours." sigh. "Still... it's hard to admit that everything has changed and I wasn't present to enjoy said transformation. Cindy and Lauren have grown a little bit, same with Kevin, and even you! Daisy and Angelo are together, aren't they?-"

"-actually, they aren't a thing yet-" tried to correct Dirk.

"And I guess that you and Antoinette have something as well?" Dirk shut up with that. "For goodness' sake, even a new mill has been built near the race track!"

Here we go again with his unceasable talk out of panic or a soon to be seizure.

"Ivan-"

"And then, there's this new boom of tourists in the hotel, Angelo opening an exposition in the town-"

"Ivan-"

"Lloyd and Sherry will soon be together and I didn't have the oportunity to tease him about their dates!"

"IVAN!"

The panicking man went silent. "Oh."

"Stop ranting, will you?" demanded Dirk with a frown. "We must have changed a lot physically, but we will always be the same people in the inside! You were the one who taught me to never change no matter how tall I got or how old I was!"

Ivan gaped at him, speechless. "Dirk..."

"Tell me, has anybody behaved drastically different from a year prior to today?" questioned the brunette critically.

"Well, I don't think so."

Dirk smiled and chuckled. "Then, stop panicking! We haven't changed that much, really!"

Ivan took a sip of wine and breathed in, relieved-

"Well, excepting Marian, who was set up by Joan and is expecting a baby from Raul."

Ivan almost choked for the second time. "What?"

Dirk laughed way too hard after seeing his brother make such a face. "Just kidding! She hasn't gone that crazy!"

"God, she would have needed a brainwash in order to do that." Ivan tried to recover from his shock, a bead of sweat running down his temple.

Ivan laughed it off a few moments after, taking a sip of wine. Dirk chuckled under his breath at the sight of such a... disorderly Ivan. He sure seemed a bit more freed from his chains of constant seriousness. The laughter of the town behind him, the sounds of the quier river under him, and an unnoticeable breeze.

"Thank you." spat Ivan almost absentmindedly. A soft smile made his way to his face. Dirk looked at him intently. "For everything."

"Why are you saying that?"

The smile never faded. In fact, it only grew larger.

He tapped his fingers against the glass. "You took the time to look after her and keep me updated about her health. Besides, you are the only person who can stand my ramblings about any crack of my personality or any perk in my life."

Dirk scratched the back of his head. He had never received that kind of moral credit from his brother apart from some approval when he behaved relatively mature. This, however, was new... new and pleasing, even if Dirk had always done all of that without expecting any reward afterwards. He did it all out of his heart's kindness and love.

"I'm flattered, brother. It's the least I could give you after all you had to put up with when I was younger. Or even now! I know I can be a real handful sometimes." they laughed a bit at that.

Ivan drank the remainings of his wine in one go. "You are trying your best of efforts to put an end to that. And I have perceived some changes already."

"You look at ease tonight." stated Dirk matter-o'-factly, smiling.

"That is because I _am_ at ease. Being home puts me at ease."

Dirk chuckled. "And I guess that a cute blonde girl would make this night even better, wouldn't it?"

Ivan sighed. "Yes, it would, but..." bitter snicker, full of irony. "she can't be here right now."

Before he even finished his sentence, both brothers heard a few gasps and looked back at the girls, who stood by the square clock. Right after that, the background of laughter and tuned down talks exploded into loud voices of surprise. Then, they heard running, fast running towards the bridge.

They followed their track in mind and saw three women making their way to the square. The girls exploded into overwhelming squeals of a girl's name that Ivan was dying to see.

"Is that Anita?"

"ANITA!"

"Anita, Anita!"

"Anita you're okay!"

"GET OUTTA' MY WAY, SHE'S MINE!" was that Freya?

Ivan's mind went into overdrive, throwing his brain out the window. He was purely blank after seeing a blonde head approaching the townsfolk. He muted the environment around him and got up, struggling to breath with anticipation. There was something that he needed to make clear.

If she belonged to anybody,

IT WAS HIM!

He marched to the amazed parade of girls with a straight face that broke into a hopeful smile of glee that betrayed his attempt to look collected. But who cared now? Anita was awake, she was walking, and she was nearer than ever!

He went straight to the table full of drinks and poured a bit of wine to his glass, drinking it all afterwards with a huge sip. Lloyd watched it unfold– more like watched a overwhelmed Ivan unfold – with an amused smirk as he stepped towards them as well. Ivan pushed Angelo aside a bit rudely.

His next victim would be either Cindy or Lauren, so they stepped aside as they had seen Angelo be expulsed from the crowd and they were a bit weaker. Ivan strode through some of the girls and, after pushing Daisy and Antoinette aside, he saw it.

He had never been so amazed.

* * *

 **If you're posting a finale clap your hands *clap clap***


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